Joe Cole singled out Jordan Pickford for criticism after Everton’s defeat to Chelsea, suggesting the goalkeeper was ‘asleep’ for Pedro Neto’s second goal.

Chelsea moved up into fourth with a hard-fought 2-0 away win against David Moyes’ side at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Xabi Alonso’s side opened the scoring straight after the half-time interval when Neto swept home Jorrel Hato’s cross into the bottom-right corner.

And the Portuguese international doubled his tally to secure all three points in the 90th minute, making the most of a fortunate bounce from a free-kick to curl a composed finish past a scrambling Pickford.

But Cole was quick to criticise Pickford for his positioning, telling Premier League Productions post-match: ‘Look at Pickford’s position, I think he’s asleep a little bit there.

‘I can only think he must think he’s going out for a corner, to be that far away, there’s no reason.

‘Neto just can’t believe his luck; when do you ever get the ball stationary in a box with a whole goal to aim at? It doesn’t happen, so it was a bit of luck, it was a gift.

‘But what I would say is, I think this Chelsea team, for the way they defended today, Everton didn’t have a chance; there were a couple of half-chances, so I think they deserved it.’

Speaking after the game, Alonso appeared most proud of his side’s defensive display in earning their first clean sheet of the season.

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‘Really pleased with the performance, with the win, with the clean sheet, many positives to build from today,’ he said.

‘We knew that it was going to be a hard challenge to win in this stadium, but we did many things to deserve the win. I think that we got many things right, going through very clean, very professional, very solid, and it’s good to have this feeling to win this way.

Alonso continued: ‘We needed to feel that we could win in this way, looking solid, playing solid, being strong, looking in control, going through difficult moments. First half, there were moments when there were throw-ins, corners, corners, throw-ins.

‘You need to go through and overcome those moments. Knowing that it’s very hard to have full control of the game during the whole minute, that you don’t lose your shape, you don’t lose your conviction of the things you are doing.

‘Today we did that really well. The first goal was going to be key, to go either one way or the other. It went our way, but I think that’s because we deserved it. I think we did a very good game.’