Chelsea 1 Everton 0

Money can't buy everything. The battle between second and third in the Premiership was always going to tell us more about Everton than Chelsea and so it proved at Stamford Bridge.

You just needed to glance at the team sheet to realise that while this was a clash between two of the best three sides in the land on current form, it was more like a Journeyman XI against a Superstar XI. The likes of Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert and David Weir may not get into a Chelsea reserve side, but they earned the right to have a crack at opponents of this calibre and it didn't take long for then to show why they are becoming formidable opponents.

If Chelsea's billionaires had contemplated the thought that this was going to be an easy afternoon at the office, then Tim Cahill reminded them what they were up against after just three minutes. Piling in with three fearless challenges in the space of five seconds, the tone of their performance had been set for the afternoon and the roar that greeted his contribution from the Everton fans.



The first chance of the game fell Everton's way as Kevin Kilbane's brilliant cross picked out Cahill in the box and his header forced Petr Cech into a flying save. He really should have done better.

Had Arjen Robben's brilliant volley after 22 minutes dipped under the bar instead of clipping it via the hand of goalkeeper Nigel Martyn, their good early work could have been undone, but it doesn't take long understand why Everton find themselves in a lofty position at the top of the league.

Robben, Lampard and Eidur Gudjohnsen had chances to undo Everton's good work before the break, but they deserved the rousing ovation delivered by their travelling supporters as referee Mike Riley sounded the half-time whistle. The Everton fans used the interval to shout all kinds of advice to the media writing their match reports.

"We are playing about £200m of footballers here, but we have got something they will never match. You can't buy pride and passion."



It was more of the same after the break as Everton frustrated Chelsea and Alan Stubbs wasted a glorious chance to put Eveton ahead as he planted the header wide when unmarked in the box after 56 minutes. Chelsea were in need of a moment of magic and it duly arrived from Arjen Robben as he burst clear on the 72nd minute and converted brilliantly for what proved to be the winning goal.

Everton came close to snatching an equaliser as Marcus Bent's header flew over the bar with five minutes to go, but manager David Moyes was to be left with little more than pride after a battling display. 'That was a fantastic performance from my players,' he stated. 'If we had £12m to spare, I would go out and buy Arjen Robben, but when you can't buy from Armani, you have to buy from Marks and Spencers. That's what we have to do.

This result put Chelsea on top of the table after Arsenal have only manage to draw with Crystal Palace.

This match report was adapted and edited from Soccernet Insider.

Felt that it was way more worthy to post this up rather then me writing it this week..

Chelsea 1 Everton 0