Based on the report by BBC Sport on Saturday, October 17, 2026, Chelsea battled their way to a hard-won 2-0 win over Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium to hand the hosts their first ever Premier League defeat.

The game was slow to kick off with neither side creating anything noteworthy, but the Toffees showed more willingness to get stuck in. Harrison Armstrong’s lunging challenge on Josh Acheampong set the tempo, before a Thierno Barry header just missed the target after meeting Jack Grealish’s cross.

Grealish then nearly found the opener with a glorious chance of his own as his low effort bounced back off the turf and ballooned into the air towards Martinez’s crossbar. Again it was the industrious Barry who tested the Argentinean goalkeeper after a lovely touch from Vitalii Mykolenko on the by-line.

Chelsea were unable to string passes together for long periods, but they did create a couple of half-chances, with Moises Caicedo’s effort bouncing back off the crossbar before Pedro Neto forced out a smart stop from Pickford ahead of half-time.

The visitors were first into the game after the break as a lovely flowing move down the left saw Jorrel Hato tee up Morgan Rogers, but it was Neto who finished clinically when the ball fell to him at the near post. The ball rolled underneath Pickford’s fingertips to trickle in.

Neto’s goal seemed to give Chelsea more freedom and they soon had a second goal when Cole Palmer’s chip was narrowly off target.

Everton were dealt a further blow when Martinez had to be substituted out after a challenge with Jarrad Branthwaite as he cleared a set-piece from the edge of the box. Penders came on for the Argentina international to make his Premier League debut, becoming the youngest-ever goalkeeper to play for Chelsea.

Their task became even tougher as they searched for an equaliser with Neto eventually scoring his second goal of the day, finishing brilliantly with his left foot after Jordan Henderson’s free-kick was illegally blocked by the Everton defensive wall.

It was the first time in nine months that Chelsea had kept a Premier League clean sheet, with their run of 22 consecutive league games without a clean sheet coming to an end. The result saw Chelsea climb up to fourth in the league table, whilst Everton dropped to sixth after their first league defeat of the campaign.