EVERTON 2 ( Saha 33, 75) – CHELSEA 1 (Malouda 17)

Louis Saha turned in a magnificent display of classic centre-forward play and Landon Donovan took the supposed ‘best left back in the world’ to the cleaners as Everton defeated Chelsea for the first time in a decade last night. Shorn of injured strong man Fellaini and the suspended Pienaar, Moyes selected Leon Osman and Mikel Arteta to do battle with the most physically imposing midfield in the league and they did not come off second best. For Chelsea Carlo Ancelloti made just one change from the team which beat Arsenal, dropping Ballack to the bench in favour of Zhirkov.

After a slow start, in front of a frozen and muted Goodison, the Toffees only hit their stride after going behind and the manner in which Everton conceded in the seventeenth minute will have had route-one critic, Arsene Wenger, smiling wryly. A huge Petr Cech down-field punt found Didier Drogba, who brushing off the attentions of the six inch shorter and two stone lighter Arteta, flicked the ball with a backward header. Malouda got to the ball ahead of Neville and drilled his shot into the corner giving the startled Howard no chance. Such was Chelsea’s easy dominance at this stage that it looked like it might be a long night for the Goodison faithful. However Landon Donovan was beginning to cause problems down Chelsea’s left flank; on one occasion he caught Ashley Cole, who had overcommitted to an attack, completely out of position and left him trailing fully twenty yards in his wake, on another he turned Cole inside out before crossing. It was the American’s example, his simple, intelligent play, which gradually spread through the home team, visibly lifting confidence, and these flickers of recovery suddenly burst into flames when Saha equalized in the thirty third minute. Donovan took a corner from the right which he sent to the near post, Saha got in front of Terry and headed powerfully past Cech. Saha could have scored again a few minutes later when he volleyed another Donovan cross straight at the Chelsea keeper and, in the forty fourth minute, the Frenchman had the temerity to miss the most gilt-edged opportunity of the lot, when he bungled a penalty kick. Again that man Donovan, just inside the area, beat Carvalho all ends up, the Chelsea man could only respond by bringing the Californian down, Alan Wiley pointed instantly to the spot. Saha took a short, four pace run-up, and hit it half-heartedly straight as Cech who was diving to his left. Presumably penalty taking duties will now revert to Leighton Baines.

Moyes must have further stoked the fires in his half-time talk because the team which emerged was the team which we saw against Manchester City a few weeks ago. They fought like terriers, and the crowd, now fully recovered from their Anfield hangover roared them on. It is games like these where that ’special’ Goodison atmosphere is truly as valuable as a twelfth man. Those in control of this club would do well to weigh this factor very heavily when deciding whether to redevelop Goodison or move to a new stadium. The fact is that no amount of money can buy the intimacy, the fervour, the baying intensity, that the Old Lady generates on nights like these.

Osman, despite his featherweight build, won tackle after tackle in midfield, Heitinga is, like Jagielka, no more than a middleweight, but he kept the heavyweight Drogba shackled. Such was the quality of Everton’s play that when the winner came it was not a surprise. Route-one again as Distin played a long, slightly diagonal ball out of defence, Saha judged it correctly, Terry did not, which allowed the Parisian – how Terry must be sick of the French – to control it on his chest, take a stride and power the ball past the helpless keeper. Now every pulse in the ground was pounding as Chelsea came at us hard, fast and hungry. A Drogba header hit the crossbar, a frantic goalmouth scramble came to nothing. There was a groan of angry disbelief, tinged with fear, as the fourth official signalled five minutes added time; Senderos was sent on to make the back four into five, and finally it was Osman and Donovan, holding the ball around the corner flag, who played out time on a fabulous and totally deserved victory.

EVERTON (4-4-1-1): Howard; Neville ©, Heitinga, Distin, Baines; Osman, Arteta (Rodwell 74), Donovan, Bilyaletdinov (Gosling 86); Cahill; Saha (Senderos 90+1)
Subs not used: Nash, Coleman, Vaughan, Yakubu

CHELSEA (4-1-3-2): Cech; Ivanovic, Terry, Carvalho, A Cole (Ballack 57); Mikel (Sturridge 76); Lampard, Zhirkov, Malouda; Anelka (Kalou 67), Drogba
Subs not used: Hilario, Ferreira, Matic, Bruma

Referee: Alan Wiley                            Gate 36,411