Chelsea Five, Everton Two
Roberto Baggio ran the show as Chelsea's four-goal first half buried Everton, and the old boy Alberto Robles had no answer to the room he used to own.
You feared a flat afternoon after the international break. You got a storm instead. Chelsea were four up by half-time and the champions' unbeaten league start is still standing, thirteen games into this season and not a defeat among them.
Our preview wondered whether the old boy in Everton's midfield knew the room better than most. Alberto Robles has been in that Chelsea dressing room for years, but knowing a room doesn't stop it falling on you. Baggio opened it on 17 minutes, and before Everton had drawn breath it was two, Joaquín making it a double blow 60 seconds later. Howard Parkins, pushed forward in a reshaped side, made it three four minutes before the break, and Ken Myers — another with an Everton past — got the fourth right on half-time. The visiting keeper had kept the score down and still went in four behind.
Everton kept coming, to be fair to them. Antonio Lloret pulled one back on 61, Jassem Abdulla restored the cushion on 72, and Jack Scanlon, on as a substitute, gave the travelling end a late moment with the last kick of the game. Baggio walked off with a goal, two assists and a full shift of running, the best thing on the pitch by a distance. The preview's shapes were half right: Everton stayed 4-3-3, Chelsea changed it, and the duel down the flank never was a duel.
So the gap stays wide and the champions roll on. Everton's trip to Manchester United in Europe on Tuesday now feels like a long way from here.