A first-half stoppage time Jorginho penalty was enough to see Chelsea beat Everton at Goodison Park in both teams’ opening game of the season. Everton are walking away wounded, not just losing the game but two defenders to injury. Ben Godfrey suffered a horrific injury just minutes into the first half, and centre-back Yerry Mina limped off midway through the second.

Chelsea managed to hand debuts out to their summer signings with Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly both starting, and Marc Cucurella featuring for the last few minutes of the game.

Conor Gallagher made his Premier League debut for the club and Armando Broja featured for just the second time as manager Thomas Tuchel used the five substitution rule to full effect.

Record-breaking Blues

Jorginho’s opener for Chelsea was his 20th Premier League goal, with 18 of these coming from the penalty spot, it gives him the highest penalty/goal ratio – 90 percent – of any Premier League player with more than 20 goals in the division.

It was also Chelsea’s 139th penalty goal in the competition, the most of any side. Liverpool are next with 138.

The win was also Chelsea’s 20th opening day win, and no team have won more, with only Manchester United matching their figure.

Since Thomas Tuchel’s first away fixture in February 2021, only Manchester City (70) have won more points on the road than the 63 that the Blues have amassed in that time.

Eduoard Mendy has been excellent since he joined Chelsea, and only Ederson has a higher clean sheet ratio among goalkeepers who have started 50 or more games (47% vs 50%).

What next for Chelsea?

Chelsea have another tough task coming up next week when they host Tottenham at Stamford Bridge in their first home game of the season.

The following week, on August 21, they visit Leeds before taking on Leicester and Southampton at the end of the month.