Jordan Pickford produced his best game of the season to shut out Chelsea as Everton sealed three massive points in their bid to stave off relegation at Goodison Park.
Everton scored the only goal of the game through Richarlison but it was Pickford who had to produce several incredible saves to deny Chelsea a second-half equalizer.
Chelsea dominated possession and controlled the tempo of the game but could not find their way through Everton’s defense, who finally kept a clean sheet in Lampard’s first game against his former club since being sacked by the club.
Everton almost got off to a dream start when Anthony Gordon won a free-kick just outside Chelsea’s box within 20 seconds but the resulting effort curled over Mendy’s post.
A theme of Chelsea dominating the possession and Everton looking for the counter ensured for the rest of the half that did not produce many chances for either side.
The goal eventually came for the home side when Cesar Azpilicueta was caught on the ball in front of his goal in the 46th minute and the Richarlison finished past Mendy to give his side a lead in a game with much larger implications for the Merseyside outfit.
Their lead almost doubled just three minutes later when Doucoure slipped the ball to Vitaliy Mykolenko but the Ukrainian sent his effort wide off the post.
Chelsea’s best chance came on 59 minutes when Mason Mount hammered a volley that ricocheted off both posts. The rebound fell to Azpilicueta whose shot toward Pickford’s goal was brilliantly saved by the Englishman who ran to the other side of his net to deny the visitors an equalizer, before producing another terrific stop to block Antonio Rudiger from close range.
Pickford again denied Mateo Kovacic from close range in the added time as Everton held on to secure three points massive points.
The result puts Everton just two points away from safety in 18th place, with a game in hand over relegation rivals Leeds United and Burnley.
With Burnely suddenly finding form out of nowhere, Everton needed to win against Chelsea to make a statement.
