What went wrong for Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton against Chelsea?

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Not many people expected Everton to go down as badly as they did on Sunday.

A lot of us can agree that Everton picking up just one point out of a possible six against Arsenal and Manchester United in their last two games was not exactly fair. 

The Toffees were arguably the better side in both those games and there was a lot of optimism going into the match against Chelsea. Carlo Ancelotti’s return to Stamford Bridge went as badly as it possibly could with the Toffees losing 4-0 in what was their worst performance under the Italian. 

Everton have been brilliant since Ancelotti’s appointment. The Toffees had lost just twice in the Premier League under him before the game against Chelsea but what went wrong yesterday?

The Italian’s 4-4-2 has worked remarkably well over the last two months but that very formation was one of the biggest factors in their downfall against the Blues on Sunday. 

As soon as Chelsea’s defenders moved the ball past Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Frank Lampard’s three-man midfield outnumbered Everton in the centre of the park, which made it incredibly easy for the Blues to get past them and hurt them in the final third. 

Everton’s attack didn’t work as well as it used to either due to the same numerical overload in midfield. Ancelotti’s side registered their first shot on target in the 55th minute, which was sadly their only one in the entire game. 

Ancelotti’s decision to play Bernard on the right also proved unproductive, with the Brazilian clearly much better on the opposite side. 

Gylfi Sigurdsson playing out wide didn’t help either, while Djibril Sidibe’s lack of positional awareness could have made things worse for Everton. This could well be a one-off for the Toffees and things should not again go as bad as it did on Sunday.

Ancelotti will certainly put the work in behind the scenes but it is Liverpool next for Everton, and the Reds would love nothing more than to further disrupt their Merseyside rivals’ pursuit of a European place.