Graham Potter felt Chelsea have been undone by “cheap goals” as they succumbed to a late Everton equaliser to attract 2-2 at Stamford Bridge.
The hosts have been relentless of their stress throughout a primary half by which they created a succession of probabilities however did not punish Sean Dyche’s aspect, earlier than twice surrendering the lead as their three-game profitable run ended.
Ellis Simms ran via a weak problem from Kalidou Koulibaly within the 89th minute to side-foot Everton stage and steal some extent, after targets from Joao Felix and a penalty from Kai Havertz seemed to have gained it regardless of a leveller from Abdoulaye Doucoure.
Chelsea, more and more fluid of their build-up play following their January spending spree, have been once more missing a killer intuition contained in the field as Everton have been let off the hook repeatedly when the hosts poured ahead.
It left them weak to a late sucker punch, and it duly arrived when 22-year-old Ellis burst via to attain his first objective for his aspect and increase their Premier League survival hopes.
“We’re really disappointed because we’ve dropped two points at home,” stated Potter. “You saw the intention of the team, there was a lot of positive things in the performance. But ultimately we haven’t defended well enough. To concede two goals means it’s not so easy to win the game. That’s the disappointing thing.
“Credit Everton, they do what they do well. They use their physicality, they use set-pieces, they ask you a question. But most of the game we controlled well, as well as you can at this level.
“Ultimately the first goal is really disappointing from a set-piece perspective, we spoke about that before the game. The second goal we haven’t attacked well enough and expose ourselves to a big space to defend and haven’t done it well enough.
“When you look at how much we put into the game and how much we tried to attack, to be cheap with the goals we concede is frustrating.”
The sport was memorable for probably the very best efficiency but in a Chelsea shirt from Felix, whose risk with the ball at his toes triggered issues that even Dyche’s usually well-drilled defence struggled to deal with.
His objective, the primary he has scored at Stamford Bridge, was angled house brilliantly after Michael Keane had did not cope with Ben Chilwell’s cross.
He was the sufferer of some powerful tackling from Everton who sought to comprise him with brute drive, together with a very cynical problem from James Tarkowski that the defender was lucky to evade punishment for.
“Joao played a really good game,” stated Potter. “I thought he mixed his game up well, he ran in behind, he linked up, dropped in, he combined well with Kai and with Christian (Pulisic) and Enzo. Really happy with his performance.
“There’s always going to be physicality in the Premier League, you expect that. It’s up to the referees to see all the incidents. But he’s adapting and learning all the time.
“Results-wise it’s a step back. But performance-wise it’s a step forward. I think there was a lot of good in the game. I thought we attacked well; Joao, Kai, Pulisic were positive in the first half. Reece (James) and Chilwell used the width well, Enzo I thought was creative in midfield.
“Individual performances were positive. The team’s intention was good. But the feeling is frustration because we’ve dropped points.”
