Right from the start of the 1-1 draw with Everton, we were the only side in the game as far as attacking intent went and the Toffees could have had little complaint if we had emerged with all three points once Mason Mount had finally found a way past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the second half, smashing in after Reece James slid him in on the right.

However, we were harshly punished for not extending our lead yet again, as the visitors equalised with their only real opportunity of the game when Jarrad Branthwaite turned in an inswinging free-kick from close range at the back post.

That’s football

It’s a phrase we have heard a lot recently, as we have come away from matches without the result our performance seemed to deserve, and this certainly seemed like another of them.

After the game, Thomas Tuchel suggested that he could easily be standing there discussing a 3-0 win for his Blues side if fortune had favoured us a bit more, and it was hard to argue with him. In fact, the expected goals ratio suggested pretty much exactly that scoreline should have been on the cards.

Although we had to wait until the second half for our opening goal, it was actually in the first period that we had the majority of our chances, as the front three of Mount, Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic caused the Everton defence plenty of problems.

That attacking trio accounted for 13 of our 23 shots in total and the skill of Ziyech and Pulisic seemed to have the Toffees on the back foot, with four successful dribbles each. Only Ruben Loftus-Cheek (seven) beat his man more.

The statistics also underline just how in control we were at the Bridge. Everton managed just five shots to our 23, with only three of them on target compared to 10 by Chelsea.

That theme continues when you see that we had a massive 80 per cent of the possession, playing 777 passes, while the Toffees played just 194 with their 20 per cent share. To put that into perspective, Thiago Silva alone played 149 passes.

Mason’s threat

At times it seemed the game could become a personal battle between Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and his England international team-mate Mount, as the Chelsea man’s six shots and four on target were both the most of any player. However, he came up against Pickford in good form, as the keeper produced nine saves.

Mount did get his goal in the second half, though, continuing his impressive run as he scored in his fourth Premier League game in a row. He is the youngest player ever to achieve that feat for Chelsea, at 22 years and 340 days.

In addition, he now has seven goals in his last six league starts, accounting for all of his goals this season and moving him ahead of Jorginho as our top scorer in all competitions.

Width but no reward

As Everton packed out the middle of the pitch to try and keep the Blues at bay, most of our attacking threat came from wide positions, primarily James on the right and the combination of Ziyech and the bombarding Antonio Rudiger on the left.

Underlining the balance of play for most of the game, the German – ostensibly a centre-back – spent more time in the opposition’s half than our own, as did substitute Trevoh Chalobah, while the rest of our back three, Cesar Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva, weren’t far off either. On the other side, only three of Everton’s 11 players spent more time in our half than their own, and only just.

It was James who seemed the most likely to make things happen, though. In addition to providing the assist for Mount’s goal, the wing-back’s six key passes were twice as many as anyone else managed, with Ziyech second on three.

He also had more touches of the ball than anyone outside Jorginho and our back three, while his five crosses was only second to the seven by Mount, as those two combined down the right side. However, somehow, it wasn’t enough to secure the win.