Chelsea have been scintillating at times this season but no win should fulfil Xabi Alonso more than beating Everton while showcasing all the traits the Blues, apparently, do not possess.

Alonso’s men hardly ever triumph at Everton – they’d managed it only once in their last nine visits. They don’t keep clean sheets and for all their attacking talent, they are perceived to flail amid the muck and bullets – all before today.

Chelsea struggle with the Toffees even when the hosts aren’t as buoyant as they were in the build up to a game which could have seen them equal their longest-ever unbeaten start to a Premier League season.

Evidently, Everton were licking their lips at welcoming a fabulous-but-flawed side who tend to wilt in the hot house conditions the Toffees thrive in. But Chelsea showed a side to themselves which, if consistently coupled with their attacking flair, could form the foundation of a title push.

Their first clean sheet, not only of the Premier League season but in 23 matches, was hard earned, from back to front.

In the middle, the return of Moises Caicedo is no coincidence. The captain in Reece James’ latest absence completed his first 90 minutes of the season – he was subbed in added time with the game won – and was the glue which bonded the Blues, especially through a hard-fought, too-close-to-call first half.

Everton sought to prey on Chelsea’s perceived weaknesses but the Blues are much harder to bully with Caicedo in their corner. His team-mates followed the skipper’s lead, snapping into tackles and duels, just as Alonso demanded of them before setting off for Merseyside on Friday.

The first half could be summed up by one tackle just before the break. James Garner and Morgan Rogers flew into one another, prompting pleas from both sides that their player was the one sinned against. Both made a compelling cases, with each competitor in the duel catching the other in a way that, in isolation, could have landed them in hot water. Instead, for the first time in the first half, Paul Tierney condoned a competitive edge.

Everton were perhaps taken aback by Rogers matching Garner’s aggression. Because from that point on, they failed to push Chelsea’s buttons.

Alonso’s team-talks have been credited by Rogers this week for adrenaline rush they spark at the start of each half – before today they had scored six goals in the opening seven minutes – but having given as good as they got, the Chelsea boss will have been preaching to the converted at the interval.

Chelsea’s flying starts are not a coincidence. When Pedro Neto put them ahead in the 46th second of the 46th minute, that was the third time this term they have scored in the opening minute of a half.

Going ahead allowed Chelsea to play as they have become accustomed to under Alonso: with a possession deficit.

The Blues have not won this season when they have had more of the ball than their opponent. In the first half, Everton allowed them 61 per cent of the possession in the knowledge they can suffocate the space Chelsea’s forwards need. The chances Chelsea did create in the first 45 minutes came from set-pieces, with Caicedo within a crossbar’s width of a goal of the season contender.

Scoring so early in the second half – again, not through luck but Alonso’s judgement – shifted the initiative on to Everton, who knew even less about what to do with it.

Neto’s second goal to seal the points was a nice flourish for Chelsea, and ugly from Everton’s perspective, but rarely did it look as though Alonso’s men might need to rely on it.

Their first clean sheet of the season was shared between two goalkeepers, with Emi Martinez’s injury the only downer on what is Alonso’s most satisfying win to date.