Pedro Neto scored his first Premier League brace as Chelsea beat Everton 2-0 at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday, ending the Toffees' unbeaten start to the season and giving the visitors their first win on Merseyside since August 2022. According to Sky Sports, the Portugal winger struck 43 seconds after the restart and again in the 90th minute to settle a match that had been finely balanced — and at times bad-tempered — for the opening hour.
The victory was overshadowed by a serious-looking head injury to Chelsea goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, who was stretchered off in the 74th minute wearing a neck brace after a collision with Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite and rushed to hospital. There was no official update on his condition at full time. Chelsea's afternoon therefore ended in triumph and anxiety in roughly equal measure: three points, a first league clean sheet in nine months — and a wait for news on their goalkeeper.
Neto strikes 43 seconds after the restart
The breakthrough came almost before the second half had begun. Jorrel Hato darted down the left flank and picked out Neto from the byline; the winger's shot squeezed past Jordan Pickford, who Sky Sports judged could have done better with the effort. It was a goal made by pace and directness, the kind of transition Chelsea's expensively assembled squad has too rarely produced this season.
Neto's second, in the 90th minute, was about anticipation rather than pace. Jordan Henderson's free kick broke loose in the Everton box and the Portugal international reacted first, steering the ball home to wrap up the win. The brace was his first in the Premier League, and afterwards he credited an unusual source for his improved finishing: Portugal's national-team coach. "When you are near to the area you need to pass to the goal," Neto said, quoting the advice that has sharpened his instincts in the box.
The goals settled what had been a cagey, occasionally fractious contest. Everton had arguably shaded the first half: Thierno Barry headed straight into Martínez's arms from a Jack Grealish cross in the 27th minute, and the Chelsea goalkeeper then tipped Grealish's bouncing volley over the bar two minutes later. Chelsea's best moments before the break came from set pieces — Moisés Caicedo's volley from a rehearsed corner struck the crossbar in the 40th minute, and Maxence Lacroix had a header cleared off the line by Harrison Armstrong in first-half stoppage time.
Martínez stretchered off after sickening collision
The match turned in the 66th minute when Martínez collided with Branthwaite while contesting a cross. The goalkeeper received nearly nine minutes of treatment on the pitch before being stretchered off in the 74th minute, immobilised in a neck brace, and was then rushed to hospital. At full time there was no official update on his condition, and the club offered no diagnosis — only that he had been taken for assessment.
His replacement was 21-year-old Mike Penders, who made his Premier League debut in the most pressurised of circumstances and became Chelsea's youngest-ever Premier League goalkeeper. Penders held his nerve through the closing stages, preserving the clean sheet that his stricken predecessor had done so much to earn.
The red-card escape that divided opinion
The afternoon's biggest controversy arrived just before half-time. Morgan Rogers, already booked in the 34th minute, launched into a high-studs challenge on James Garner — and referee Paul Tierney decided to take no further action. The decision drew an immediate and withering verdict from pundit Mike Dean: "I think it's a minimum yellow, but I called red straight away."
It was the flashpoint of a feisty first half that produced five yellow cards before the break — the first such tally in a Premier League half since February. Tarkowski was booked for barging Caicedo off the ball, and the caution list across the match also included Rogers, Martínez, Neto, Acheampong and Harrison Armstrong. Everton will feel Tierney's leniency cost them; Chelsea will simply bank the points.
