Chelsea Player Ratings vs. Everton: Surprise Hero Leads the Charge at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea maintained their 31-year unbeaten home record against Everton with a 2–0 win at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues started the day in fifth place after picking up just a single Premier League point from the last nine available, but they were in control of proceedings once Cole Palmer had celebrated his return to the starting lineup with a 21st minute goal.

Malo Gusto was the orchestrator of that goal and he bagged his second in his last six Premier League games—having not scored in his first 67 competiton appearances—on the stroke of half-time. combining brilliantly with the impressive Pedro Neto.

There should have been a goal for Alejandro Garnacho, too, but he contrived to miss the target after being presented with a golden opportunity to score by Carlos Alcaraz.

It mattered not for Chelsea, though, with Everton’s impressive spells in the game failing to lead to any major clear-cut opportunities.

Chelsea Player Ratings (4-2-3-1)

Pedro Neto is hoisted into the air by Malo Gusto — Pedro Neto (left) played a big role in Chelsea’s second goal. | Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images

GK: Robert Sánchez—8.4: A spectator for most of the afternoon in terms of shot-stopping, but did have to get his angles right to prevent Grealish from drawing Everton level. Mopped up well as a sweeper-keeper.

RB: Malo Gusto—8.8: Took up a superb inverted position for the opening goal before threading the eye of a needle with a superbly weighted pass for Palmer. Then scored a cracker of his own, bursting forward at speed before combininb brilliantly with Neto.

CB: Wesley Fofana—7.8: Is really beginning to look like the calibre of centre back Chelsea thought they were signing in 2022, prior to his horrific injury problems. 10 clearances, five recoveries and three interceptions a testament to how on the ball he was.

CB: Trevoh Chalobah—7.4: The more understated of Chelsea’s central defensive duo but made his afternoon look relatively easy.

LB: Marc Cucurella—7.2: Threatened to let his temperament get the better of him at times, engaging in a bit of rough and tumble with Iliman Ndiaye, but was again solid.

CM: Reece James—7.0: Another efficient display from Chelsea’s captain, this time in front of the watching England manager Thomas Tuchel.

CM: Enzo Fernández—7.5: Didn’t have as much license to bomb forward with Palmer back in the side but was still mightily effective in the heart of midfield. Recovered the ball on at least seven occasions.

AM: Cole Palmer—7.7: A brilliantly timed run behind Everton’s defence was matched by an equally brilliant finish from Chelsea’s livewire No. 10. A very lively hour-long outing before being replaced by Andrey Santos.

RW: Pedro Neto—7.9: Vitaliy Mykolenko will have trouble sleeping tonight after coming up against the Portuguese winger in top form. Was always direct and looking to take his man on—something he did to great effect to set up Gusto’s goal.

CF: João Pedro—6.7: Doesn’t carry the out and out goal threat of a traditional striker, yet the Brazilian does a great job of creating space for others.

LW: Alejandro Garnacho—6.8: Not the Argentine’s afternoon in front of goal—the lack of end product a consistent in his career so far—but at least can say he got into decent positions.

Substitute	Rating (Out of 10)
Andrey Santos (58’ for Palmer)	6.4
Jamie Gittens (65’ for Garnacho)	6.9
Estêvão (81’ for João Pedro)	6.2

Subs not used: Filip Jörgensen (GK), Benoît Badiashile, Jorrel Hato, Josh Acheampong, Tosin Adarabioyo, Marc Guiu.

Everton (4-2-3-1)

Starting XI: Jordan Pickford (GK); Jake O’Brien, James Tarkowski, Michael Keane, Vitality Mykolenko, James Garner, Idrissa Gana Gueye, Iliman Ndiaye, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jack Grealish, Thierno Barry.

Subs used: Carlos Alcaraz, Beto, Tyler Dibling, Tim Iroegbunam.

Subs not used: Mark Travers (GK), Adam Aznou, Elijah Campbell, Nathan Patterson, Dwight McNeil.

Player of the Match: Malo Gusto

Chelsea 2–0 Everton: How the Game Unfolded at Stamford Bridge

Cole Palmer celebrates his goal for Chelsea against Everton. — Cole Palmer (middle) returned to action in style. | Robin Jones/Getty Images

Heading into the game, the home side had dropped more points from winning positions at home than any other Premier League team during 2025–26—and this particular clash came off the back of a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Atalanta in the Champions League, extending Chelsea’s winless run to four in all competitions.

Enzo Maresca may have hoped therefore that his side would make a quick start in west London, but the first incident of note saw Everton’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, playing against his former club, forced off with a hamstring injury after just 14 minutes.

There was also a bit of niggle involving Marc Cucurella—the occasionally fiery Spaniard riled up by some crunching challenges involving Jake O’Brien and Iliman Ndiaye—and some other hefty tackles flew in inside the first 20 minutes.

Ndiaye had the first shot on target, trickling a deflected effort through to Robert Sánchez, but the first moment of quality led to Chelsea breaking the deadlock. Gusto drifted into central midfield, inverting from full back to great effect, and his excellent slide rule pass found Palmer breaking in behind. Chelsea’s No. 10 did the rest, closing his foot at the last moment to clinically whip the ball inside Jordan Pickford’s near post.

Chelsea’s advantage should have been doubled moments later when Carlos Alcaraz, brought on for Dewsbury-Hall, inexplicably attempted a blind pass back to goalkeeper Pickford. Alejandro Garnacho read the situation perfectly, cutting out both the pass and Pickford from the equation, but he somehow rolled his effort wide with the goal at his mercy.

🫡#CFC | #CHEEVE pic.twitter.com/RgW4VYYmL5
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 13, 2025

Pedro Neto fired wide for the hosts before Everton had a couple of bright moments of their own. James Tarkowski wasted a free header from a James Garner free-kick, nodding wide when he should really have forced Sánchez into action, Jack Grealish saw an attempted flick turned wide by Chelsea’s goalkeeper and Thierno Barry somehow failed to convert O’Brien’s fizzing low cross—replays showing the ball went between the Everton striker’s legs.

Inevitably, and against the run of play, Chelsea made it two before the interval—Gusto this time the scorer after a terrific counter-attack. The 21-year-old found the marauding Neto on the right wing and after he danced his way past Vitaliy Mykolenko with some devilishly quick feet, the Portuguese slipped the ball back into the path of Gusto who prodded home with Pickford wrong-footed.

If Garnacho thought his afternoon was going to get any better after the interval, lady luck had other ideas. A long Sánchez ball got the former Manchester United winger in-behind Everton’s defence, but he again failed to hit the target when he really should have done. To add insult to injury, he was hooked soon after for Jamie Gittens, following on from Palmer’s departure before the hour-mark in Maresca’s bid to manage his minutes.

Grealish almost turned home for Everton at the other end, moments before James rifled a dipping free-kick at goal that forced Pickford into an acrobatic save.

Both sides made changes, with Chelsea looking to close the game out, but Everton refused to lie down and Ndiaye hit the inside of Sánchez’s post before another Alcaraz half-chance was blocked by Chelsea’s onrushing backline.

That was as close as they came—Chelsea seeing out the game to climb back into the Premier League’s top four.