With none of Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham in Premier League action on the weekend, Everton game against Chelsea was a crucial game in hand.
They dominated the first half against a tepid home side but produced a second-half display that was inexplicable to Sarri, although Everton should be credited with a huge upturn in their performance.
The worrying aspect for Chelsea fans is that, after seeing their side lose one of nine games over the course of 90 minutes since their 6-0 drubbing by Manchester City in February, their poor away form has come back to haunt them and Sarri seems incapable of turning it around.
“It is difficult for the players to explain the change to me,” the former Napoli manager said of the contrast in halves. “It is very difficult for me to explain the change to you. Probably it is a mental block, I think.
“At the moment, this is our limit. If we are able to play like in the first half with consistency then we are in another position in the table. We have this problem because we lost a similar match at Wolverhampton [in December]. We lost again in this way, for us it is a big limit.”
However, goals from Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson after the break secured victory for Marco Silva’s men, leaving Chelsea in sixth, three points adrift of the final Champions League spot, with trips to Old Trafford and Anfield still to come.
Silva made two changes to the XI that suffered a stunning comeback loss at Newcastle last weekend, with Yerry Mina and Seamus Coleman returning to strengthen the backline.
Despite his Europa League hat-trick in midweek, Olivier Giroud was dropped to the bench with Gonzalo Higuain leading the Chelsea attack, while Ross Barkley started against his former side and was given a predictably hostile reception.
Jordan Pickford, who’d been heavily criticised for his performance in the Newcastle defeat, made two early stops to deny first Eden Hazard and then Higuain – the latter with the help of smart cover from Michael Keane on the line – before Barkley warmed his palms with a dipping effort from range.
It took the home side more than half an hour to touch the ball in the Chelsea box, but when an opportunity did come, Dominic Calvert-Lewin should have done better, heading Sigurdsson’s free-kick well over the bar when unmarked.
Pedro was Chelsea’s most persistent threat, first sidefooting wide after a clever pull back from Marcos Alonso and then lashing just past the bottom corner after a brilliant run.
The interval finally sparked some life into the hosts, and a taller player than Bernard might have been able to get a toe on Calvert-Lewin’s devilish ball across goal.
Angel Gomes tested Kepa with a curling effort, but when Calvert-Lewin headed at goal from a corner minutes later, the Spanish ‘keeper could only parry back into danger and Richarlison was on hand to give Everton the goal that their bright start to the half merited.
Pickford made another excellent stop as Chelsea tried to rally, throwing a strong wrist down to his left to keep out Higauin’s sweetly struck half-volley.
Chelsea are playing Sarri ball, while Everton are scoring Sarri goals 😂😂😂#EVECHE pic.twitter.com/DCXbIi43ix— Kabir Murtala (@Elkabs17) March 17, 2019
Maurizio Sarri sent Giroud and Ruben Loftus-Cheek into the fray, with Higuain and – much to the delight of the home crowd – Barkley the men sacrificed. Before either had chance to make a real impact though, it was game over.
Marcos Alonso was clumsy, tripping goalscorer Richarlison inside the box as the Toffees forward nipped in ahead of him to gift the hosts the chance to make the three points safe.
Sigurdsson was on penalty duties despite having missed twice this season, and that became three as Kepa dived low to stop a poor effort – but the Icelandic’s luck was in as the rebound fell perfectly for him to slide home.