Everton show signs of life in EFL Cup defeat against lacklustre Chelsea

An encouraging night for Everton, all told. Yes, they lost. But somehow, you suspect that the pain of not making it into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup will wear off fairly quickly. More importantly, if they can bottle the spirit and penetration they showed in the second half here, when they took on the champions at their own game and came so close to forcing extra time, then perhaps there is still some hope for their season. Something for caretaker manager David Unsworth to build on.

Certainly this was a very different Everton to the one we saw in the dying embers of the Ronald Koeman era, out-muscled and out-tussled, not just beaten but bereft. Perhaps a vague, insipid musk of Koeman-ball lingered over a lacklustre first half, but after the break Everton rallied superbly, more aggressive both in possession and out of it. Chelsea were reliant on reserve goalkeeper Willy Caballero to get them out of several close shaves, only a couple of his own making.

READ MORE: Puel appointed Leicester manager

READ MORE: FIFA confirm Pogba case is closed

READ MORE: Arsenal fans demand answers from owner

Willian’s injury-time missile, coming in between Antonio Rudiger’s first-half header and Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s late, late consolation, ultimately proved the difference between the sides, and so once more Chelsea triumphed despite being nowhere near their best. Antonio Conte spent much of the second half nervously biting his nails. Having made nine changes for this game, he will have learned a few things about his second-string here, not all of them positive.

Seventeen-year-old Ethan Ampadu, not born when Phil Jagielka made his debut, impressed in midfield. Charly Musonda set up the opening goal, but offered little else, and faded with his team in the second half. Everton, meanwhile, were a curious mixture of raw youngsters and a late-era Fabio Capello England squad. Wayne Rooney at No9 was certainly a blast from the past, and not an entirely successful one at that. But Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka pulled their weight, and there was a first start since January for Aaron Lennon, after his mental health struggles earlier this year.

Still, a defeat is a defeat, and before their late surge, Everton still displayed many of the frailties - a lack of pace, a lack of pressure on the ball, low confidence, poor awareness - that got them into their predicament in the first place. Take Chelsea’s goal for instance: a good cross by Kenedy, a slightly desperate clearance for a corner by Jagielka, a good swinging ball over from Charly Musonda and a delightful arcing header by Rudiger, in so much space you could have mistaken him for a modern art installation.

Nothing calamitous. No deadly error or freak mishap. Just a series of quietly preventable occurrences. And this, in a way, has been the story of Everton’s season: a thousand tiny oversights that altogether add up to one rumbling disaster.

Yet to everyone’s surprise - possibly even their own - Everton located their chops in the second half. The first sign that something might be afoot was when Rooney found himself unmarked six yards out after a knock-down from Kevin Mirallas. Caballero, heroically charging at Rooney, blocked the left-footed volley with his hip.

For a while, the former Manchester City goalkeeper was the busiest player in the game. First he cleared the ball from off Lennon’s toes after his own error. Then he made two superb saves from Jagielka and Mirallas to keep Chelsea in front. At the other end, Jagielka somehow managed to outsprint Michy Batshuayi - more than a decade his junior - to deny him an open goal. From front to back, Everton had finally located their fight.

Conte, his nails bitten down to the cuticles, weighed up his options. On the bench behind him sat three kids and three stars. It was a measure of how tight this game was he ended up bringing on Cesc Fabregas, Pedro and Alvaro Morata. It was Fabregas who helped finally settle the game, Willian smashing one in after his neat flick.

In the final injury time, Calvert-Lewin poked the ball in after a goalmouth scramble. And although it failed to change the result, it seemed somehow fitting that Everton should get something out of a game in which they may, finally, have turned the corner.