Everton held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw on Sunday – but one player came in for criticism after the game.
Sean Dyche’s side took another point in the Premier League, putting in a resolute performance at Goodison Park against a side chasing the title.
Everton did well in the previous game against Arsenal and game plan was very much the same against the Blues.
It was all Chelsea in the first-half, but Everton grew into the contest and Robert Sanchez was the busier of the goalkeepers in the second-half.
Everton may well have nicked it towards the end.
But there were also moments when Chelsea could easily have breached Everton, and Jordan Pickford actually came in for a bit of criticism on Match of the Day 2 last night.
Shay Given and Glenn Murray say ‘erratic’ Jordan Pickford got lucky v Chelsea
Pickford has been outstanding at times for Everton this season.
The previous weekend, even Arsenal fans praised Pickford for his performance.
But against Chelsea, the feeling from Match of the Day 2 pundits Shay Given and Glenn Murray was that it was very much a mixed bag for the England goalkeeper.
Given said: “It was a mixed bag. First-half for whatever reason, he was a wee bit erratic with his decision-making.
“You see he he comes into no man’s land, he gets a bit lucky, too close to his defender, Jackson coming in, backtracks into his goal. Good and bad today from Jordan.”
“This was probably the save of the match (from Jackson at close-range, after a cross by Cole Palmer.”
“But here again, this is the wrong decision (coming out as Jackson was played through) he’s in no man’s land.”
The punditry team then focused on the challenge Pickford made on Malo Gusto after a Chelsea corner.
Given said: “This is a real rush of blood to the head from Jordan, he actually gets really lucky here. I think this is really quite dangerous. When he goes with his feet like that, he’s endangering the opposition.
“he’s nearly turned into an outfield player at this point.”
Glenn Murray added: “Yeah (he was lucky). I think it was reckless. He turned into an outfield player. I actually think if an outfield player done that, it would have been a penalty.
“That is the one area of his game, like you say he’s been exceptional at keeping clean sheets, but he can just get a little bit excitable.”
Pickford deserves credit
We all know that Pickford can sometimes play with a bit too much emotion.
He perhaps did get a bit lucky that he didn’t catch Gusto with his challenge, and we’ve seen him fly into tackles like that before.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 15 |  EvertonEverton | 16 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 21 | -7 | 16 |
But one wonders just where Everton might be now without their £30 million signing Pickford, who has been superb over the past couple of years.
Despite sometimes being slightly rash, he is certainly consistent.
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