Chelsea’s stunning crazy match in Goodison Park but Mourinho not happy with defence, Balotelli come and Liverpool not missed Suarez anymore.

Everton 2 Chelsea 6:Crazy match in Mersyside but winner is Blues with Diego Costa

Eto’o, forced out of Chelsea during the summer as his relationship with Jose Mourinho deteriorated, at least had the satisfaction of a debut goal for his new club against his former employers.

But the Chelsea manager’s reshaping of his squad is paying off. Three games have brought three wins, 11 goals and top spot in the Premier League. Costa, the £32million buy from Atletico Madrid, has scored four of them. They will be hard to stop this season.

Everton gave it a go in a thrilling, breathless match. And had they not been playing catch-up after an awful start, they might have brought Mourinho’s men down a peg or two.

As it was, neither Eto’o nor his fellow former Chelsea forward Romelu Lukaku could make the difference for Everton. Chelsea just had too many goals in them for that. Loic Remy will have a job getting a game in this side.

It was Costa who had the first and last words. For a player who was supposed to be struggling with a hamstring injury in the build-up to kick-off, this was a fast start and an impressive finish.

Only 37 seconds had been played when Costa had the ball in Everton’s net, becoming the first Chelsea player to score in his first three games for the club since Adrian Mutu in 2003.

The home side were stretched to breaking point by the rapid passing of Ramires, Willian and Cesc Fabregas, who played the through-ball for Costa to drill a shot between Tim Howard and his near post.

Barely two minutes later, Chelsea had scored again, although a little more fortunately.

Ramires played in the marauding Branislav Ivanovic to lash in a second from a marginally-offside position.

Goalkeeper Tim Howard, at one point, had a brain freeze as he handled a Fabregas through-ball outside his penalty area; fortunately for the American, so too did the officials, as they failed to spot it.

Slowly, Everton began to show signs of life. Lukaku headed an Aiden McGeady corner against the bar, and Sylvain Distin bundled in the rebound, only to be correctly ruled offside. And then, with half-time approaching, came Everton hope.

McGeady fed the adventurous Seamus Coleman down the right, and Kevin Mirallas got above Gary Cahill to meet the ball with a towering header that tore into the net.

Diego Costa could have put the match beyond Everton’s reach early in the second half when put in behind Everton’s creaking defence by a Ramires pass, but Howard blocked with his foot.

When the third Chelsea goal did arrive, it was reward for Eden Hazard’s attacking spirit, aided by a touch of luck. The Belgian winger darted in from the left and found the net via a deflection off Coleman.

Everton’s instant response – with Steven Naismith slotting in a deserved goal from McGeady’s run and pass – suggested they could find a way back into the game.

And there were plenty more twists to come in an extraordinary game. Nemanja Matic, set up by Ramires, drove in a fourth Chelsea goal from the edge of the penalty area, via the inside of the post.

Within minutes, Samuel Eto’o had given Everton a third, with a beautifully placed header from Leighton Baines’ free-kick.

In the end, though, Everton left themselves too much to do. Ramires finished after playing a one-two with Matic, before Costa pounced on a defensive error to score decisively.

Everton vs Chelsea Match Stats

Everton: Howard, Coleman, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, McCarthy, Barry, Mirallas, Naismith, McGeady (Eto’o 70), Lukaku (Besic 89).

Subs Not Used: Robles, Gibson, Osman, Stones, Alcaraz.

Booked: Howard.

Goals: Mirallas 45, Naismith 69, Eto’o 76.

Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Ramires, Matic,Willian (Mikel 75),Fabregas (Drogba 89),Hazard (Luis 83), Costa.

Subs Not Used: Cech, Zouma, Schurrle, Salah.

Booked: Costa, Ramires, Fabregas.

Goals: Costa 1, Ivanovic 3, Coleman 67 og, Matic 74, Ramires 77, Costa 90.

Att: 39,402

Ref: Jon Moss (W Yorkshire).

Everton 3 Chelsea 6 Match Video

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Tottenham Hotspur 0 Liverpool 3:Reds didnt need Suarez anymore

Snap judgements are unwise on the showing of one game, and one this early in the season.

Yet it was hard to ignore how impressive a job Liverpool did on Spurs.

And the optional approach to defending employed by Tottenham will continue to leave them exposed by the big boys.

Spurs came into the game played four, won four with only one goal conceded. Optimism, as ever in August, bubbling nicely at The Lane.

Liverpool arrived on the back of a 3-1 defeat at Manchester City and murmurs of ‘you’re going to miss Suarez’.

Yet it was Liverpool who seized the game immediately and never let go. Raheem Sterling scored after eight minutes following a lightning Liverpool counter-attack from Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson.

And they could have been in front even earlier with Mario Balotelli wasting a glorious chance to start his latest chapter with a goal, heading straight at the goalkeeper from three yards.

He missed another three good chances, the best when Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris presented him the ball and a gaping net 35 yards out but he snatched his shot hopelessly wide.

No matter, Liverpool, playing with a diamond formation and swarming all over Spurs’ midfielders, were too powerful, too quick for the home side.

A soft penalty gave them a two-goal cushion – Eric Dier tugging Joe Allen and the Liverpool man collapsing convincingly.

Balotelli is a penalty specialist, but so is Steven Gerrard and proved it with his 29th successful spot kick in the Premier League.

Tottenham had had chances, Emmanuel Adebayor wasting one, chipping the ball high after Simon Mognolet was stranded. That was bad, but not as bad as Nacer Chali smashing one high and too close to the Belgian keeper when a low shot would surely have brought a goal.

On came England winger Andros Townsend in a bid to rescue something. His first touch was memorable, caught in possession by Moreno, who raced forward and planted a lovely shot inside the far post and game over.

Liverpool should have had a fourth, Sterling beating several Spurs defenders in a jinking run across the area but then chose not to shoot on his left foot and hit a tame effort with his right straight to Lloris.

It was a perfect result and performance for Brendan Rodgers in his 100th game in charge of Liverpool. He has won 56 of those, matching the records of Bill Shankly and Rafa Benitez, but not quite as impressive as Kenny Dalglish with 62.

He was fielding a starting XI with an average age of 24, the youngest he has ever done and seems to have found a wonderful blend of youth and experience, who are willing to work hard for the cause.

They are also tactically astute, adjusting their game for each opponent and with Sturridge, Balotelli, and Sterling have goals in them.

Last season, keeping them out was the problem and Rodgers will be delighted with the clean sheet.

For Tottenham it is now 12 unanswered goals in their last three games against Liverpool and their record against the top four last season was wretched – seven defeats, 26 goals conceded and only two scored.

The four wins under Mauricio Pochettino had fuelled belief that this was the season Tottenham could challenge those rivals. He admitted they are still a work in progress.

“We are a team who are still improving, still learning,” he said. “We were up against a very good team who almost won the Premier League last season and have built the team for more than two years. But that’s no excuse for this. This was unlucky, maybe, but in the key moments of the game we lost it.”

Tottenham defender Danny Rose, selected by Roy Hodgson for the first time, should be OK for England this week after picking up a dead leg.

Pochettino said: “It’s not a big injury. I think it’s Ok for him to go with England.”

Tottenham vs Liverpool Match Stats

Tottenham (4-2-3-1): Lloris 5; Dier 5, Kaboul 5, Vertonghen 5, Rose 5 (Davies 71 5); Capoue 5, Bentaleb 6 (Dembele 59 5); Chadli 6, Eriksen 5 (Townsend 59 5), Lamela 5; Adebayor 6. Next up: Sunderland (a) Sept 13, PL.

Liverpool (4-1-2-1-2): Mignolet 7; Manquillo 7, Lovren 8, Sakho 7, Moreno 8; Gerrard 7; Allen 7, Henderson 8; Sterling 8 (Enrique 85); Sturridge 7, Balotelli 7 (Markovic 61 6). Booked: Allen, Manquillo, Sterling, Moreno. Goals: Sterling 8, Gerrard 49 pen, Moreno 60. Next up: Liverpool (h) Sept 13, PL.

Referee: P. Dowd (Staffordshire).

Tottenham 0 Liverpool 3 Match Video

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Barclays Premier League Match Week 3 Results

Saturday, 30 August

Burnley FC 0 Man United 0

Man City 0 Stoke City 1

QPR 1 Sunderland 0

Newcastle 3 Crystal Palace 3

Swansea City 3 West Brom 0

West Ham 1 Southampton 3

Everton 3 Chelsea 6

Sunday, 31 August

Aston Villa 2 Hull City 1

Tottenham 0 Liverpool 3

Leicester City 1 Arsenal 1

Barclays Premier League Week 3 Table

 

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