Chelsea 1-0 Everton: An 89th-minute deflected strike from Willian gave Chelsea a victory over Everton to maintained their seven-point Premier League lead.
The goal came moments after Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic went unpunished for a clash with James McCarthy that followed Gareth Barry’s red card.
Everton keeper Tim Howard had earlier denied Chelsea trio Loic Remy, Nemanja Matic and Willian with fine saves.
At the other end, Petr Cech brilliantly denied Romelu Lukaku from close range.
Barry’s second yellow card for a trip on the game’s goalscorer sparked a melee during which Ivanovic got McCarthy in a head-lock and appeared to thrust his head towards his opponent’s back.
When play resumed, a free-kick from deep was punched out by Howard as far as Willian, whose low shot glanced Steven Naismith on its way into the corner of the net.
It was a dramatic finish to an unconvincing performance from Jose Mourinho’s men, who were moments away from seeing their lead cut to five points by Manchester City, who were 4-1 winners at Stoke.
In the final match of Diego Costa’s ban for stamping, the hosts lacked penetration in attack, with new signing Juan Cuadrado struggling to make an impact on his first start.
