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25 min: Doucourt’s headed chance before Tarkowski’s effort means Everton have the better of the game but the deadlock remains unbroken. For now, they have a Chelsea corner to defend. They do it with minimal effort.
22 min: Demarai Gray wins a corner for Everton and James Tarkowski makes a smart save from Edouard Mendy’s header, forcing the Chelsea keeper to tip the ball over the bar.
20 min: Koulibaly gets a crucial touch on a cross from Demarai Gray to prevent the ball from falling into the path of Dwight McNeill, who was lurking behind him. In front of Koulibaly, Anthony Gordon jumped highest but failed to touch the ball.
19 min: From this corner, Chelsea win another, then a third in quick succession. The ball falls to Mason Mount on the edge of the box and his low shot is saved by Pickford who gets down low on the right. The ball went wide, but the Everton keeper took no chances.
17 min: Ben Godfrey is carried off on a stretcher, prompting more cheers from the Everton fans. Mason Holgate comes on in his place and has a corner to defend. It turned out that Pickford didn’t stop the ball from going over the line after all.
15 min: A minute’s applause follows for a young Everton fan called Izzy O’Connor who died recently aged 15. May he rest in peace.
15 min: The break in play continues as Godfrey continues to receive treatment by the Everton goal.
13 min: After injuring himself trying to clean up a defensive mess of his own making, the hapless Ben Godfrey is given oxygen and about to be carried off with what looks to be a serious ankle injury. Hopefully it’s not too bad and he’ll recover as quickly as possible.
11 min: Ben Godfrey appears to have injured himself quite badly in this collision and is currently receiving treatment. Mason Holgate begins his warm-up.
10 mins: Jordan Pickford sprints back to prevent Ben Godfrey’s back-pass from going out for a corner. He clears the ball but only to Havertz, who heads the ball into the side-netting, colliding with Pickford and the spinning back Godfrey in the process.
Everton’s Ben Godfrey takes on Chelsea’s Kai Havertz. Photo: Toby Melville/Reuters
Updated at 17.49 BST
9 min: Chelsea enjoy a period of sustained possession that ends abruptly when Nathan Patterson outmuscles Kai Havertz and robs him of possession in Everton’s left-back area.
7 mins: Not much to report in these early stages as the teams take time to gauge each other.
5 mins: Correction: Chelsea’s away kit stripes are not ‘light blue’ but are – consultation notes – ‘ice cold lion print’. Do lions have stripes? I always thought they were something like a zebra.
“Ice cold lion print” adorns Raheem Sterling’s torso. Photo: Toby Melville/Reuters
Updated at 17.56 BST
3 min: Abdoulaye Doucourt heads a cross into the Chelsea penalty area from the right-hand touchline, but fails to direct his weak shot on target. Edouard Mendy shoots wide.
2 min: Everton go forward and Vitaly Mikolenko takes the ball from the left touchline but fails to cross. He plays it backwards.
Everton vs Chelsea comes out…
1 minute: Chelsea drive the ball, their players are wearing white shirts with light blue stripes, white shorts and blue socks. Everton wear their usual home kit of blue shirts, white shorts and white socks.
Updated at 17.39 BST
Not long after: Led by Craig Pawson and his match officials, Jordan Pickford and Cesar Azpilicueta lead the two teams out of the narrow tunnel at Goodison Park. In the Sky Sports studio, former Everton striker Duncan Ferguson confidently tips his old club to take all three points. “Chelsea don’t win at Goodison,” he declared.
Thomas Tuchel speaks: “It helps that the big day is coming and so the focus has been all on Everton,” he says of his team’s preparations. “It helped us calm down, calm down to do hard work and focus.
Asked what Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly bring to Chelsea, he says “personality and quality”. He added that the duo “proved it for the big clubs, Raheem has proven it in the Premier League time and time again.”
Frank Lampard spoke: “The fans have helped – they’re here again before the game, we can’t expect it every time but it’s great to see,” he told Sky Sports. “We found ourselves in a difficult position last season and we don’t want to be there again, but one thing we know is that Everton have to be a team and a club that fights on the pitch in the right way.”
These teams: There are four debutants in the starting lineups, with James Tarkowski and Dwight McNeill starting for Everton, while Kalidou Koulibaly and Raheem Sterling make their first official starts in a Chelsea livery.
Signed by Rangers last season, Nathan Patterson lined up at right-back for Everton in just his second start for the club after undergoing ankle surgery shortly after his arrival. Ben Chilwell is back for Chelsea after a long spell on the sidelines with a serious knee injury.
Everton vs Chelsea lineups
Everton: Pickford, Patterson, Tarkowski, Mina, Godfrey, Mikolenko, Gray, Ducourt, Iwobi, McNeill, Gordon.
Subs: Holgate, Keane, Allen, Begovic, Alli, Gbamin, Ruben Vinagre, Warrington, Mills.
Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Koulibaly, James, Kante, Jorginho, Chilwell, Mount, Havertz, Sterling.
Subs: Cukurela, Arrizabalaga, Kovacic, Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah, Gallagher, Ziech, Broia.
Referee: Craig Pawson (England)
Updated at 16.36 BST
Match officials today
- Referee: Craig Pawson
- Assistants: Mark Perry and Scott Ledger
- Fourth Referee: Graham Scott
- VAR: John Brooks
Craig Pawson, pictured here during last weekend’s Community Shield, is today’s match official at GOodison Park. Photo: Andrew Yates/EPA
Early team news…
Everton have brought Burnley old boys Dwight McNeill and James Tarkowski to Goodison Park, while Ruben Vinegre is also on loan from Sporting Lisbon. All three are available for selection today.
Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin faces six weeks on the sidelines with a knee injury he picked up in training earlier this week, while Salomon Rondon misses out this afternoon with a suspension he carried over from last season. Seamus Coleman, Tom Davies, Andre Gomes and Andros Townsend are also out with various injuries.
Having lost Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger to Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively, and with Marcos Alonso also keen on a move to Camp Nou, Chelsea have brought in Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cuccarella to bolster their defence.
Up front, Raheem Sterling and Carney Chucumeka arrived hoping to fill their boots with goals. Rumored to return to RB Leipzig, enthusiastic Timo Werner is Chelsea’s only fitness doubt as he suffers a thigh injury.
Premier League: Everton vs Chelsea
Goodison Park is the venue for what those of us without imagination lazily refer to as Frank Lampard’s derby. After keeping Everton ahead last season, the ex-Chelsea midfielder turned manager is on the hot seat for his first full season in charge at Goodison Park, even if he has no shortage of detractors who give him little or no chance of campaign.
Under new owners who seem happy to throw money around like confetti, it promises to be an intriguing first season in the post-Abramovich era for Chelsea. Kicks off in Merseyside at 17:30 (BST)| but in the meantime, stay tuned for team news and build-up.
Police escort the Everton team bus to Goodison Park. Photo: Nick Potts/Pennsylvania
Updated at 17.26 BST
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