Player Ratings: No one came out of this well!

Everton Player Ratings: Chelsea (H)

• Jordan Pickford — 3/10 Left horribly exposed by his backline all afternoon. Could do very little about either of Pedro Neto’s strikes, but his distribution lacked its usual spark, feeding straight into the general lethargy.
  
• Ainsley Maitland-Niles — 2/10 Hooked 10 minutes into the second half after a torrid afternoon trying to cope down his flank. Completely caught out of position for the opening goal right on the stroke of half-time and offered zero recovery pace.
• James Tarkowski — 4/10 Picked up a cynical yellow card in the first half as panic set in. Won an aerial duel here or there, but his positional discipline crumbled under sustained pressure, and his distribution out from the back was painfully slow.
• Jarrad Branthwaite — 4/10 Way below his usual authoritative standards. Looked sluggish tracking runners and struggled to marshal a backline that parted far too easily for Chelsea’s second-half breakthroughs.
• Vitalii Mykolenko — 3/10 Put in a shift defensively in terms of sheer numbers, but offered next to nothing going forward and was repeatedly stretched by Chelsea’s wide rotations.
• James Garner — 2/10 Criminally anonymous in the engine room. Couldn’t get a grip on the tempo of the game, failed to shield the back four, and surrendered possession far too cheaply when we desperately needed a calming influence. Set pieces were mostly rubbish.
• Harrison Armstrong — 4/10 A tough afternoon for the youngster, who picked very unjust booking early on and looked a little overwhelmed by the physical and tactical maturity of Chelsea’s midfield. Subbed off after a frustrating display.
• Merlin Röhl — 4/10 Tried to inject some energy into a stagnant midfield, but his efforts were largely disjointed. Conceded possession in dangerous areas and failed to link the lines effectively.
• Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall — 5/10 Supposed to be the creative hub, and he did try on occasions, but didn’t get involved enough to command the midfield, offering limited penetration and failing to test Martínez between the sticks.
• Jack Grealish — 3/10 Held onto the ball way too long on the rare occasions we managed to break, completely slowing down any transition. Frustratingly ineffective before being put out of his misery late on. But did put a lovely cross in for Barry’s header.
• Thierno Barry — 1/10 Isolated and ineffective. With the ball laid on a plate he headed it straight at Martinez, ad also missed his usual golden chance, his hold-up play was sloppy.

The Substitutes

• Tyrique George (3/10) — Brought on early in the second half to try and spark a sluggish attack, but barely made a ripple.
• Brennan Johnson (1/10) — Tossed on too late to make any tangible impact on a lost cause.
• Christian Nørgaard (1/10) — Came on to add steel, managed to pick up a clumsy late booking and set up a goal for Chelsea instead.