Jorginho penalty enough to earn Chelsea hard-fought opening win at Everton

It was not a statement performance to launch the new season or the new Todd Boehly era from Chelsea but Thomas Tuchel found rare encouragement at Goodison Park nevertheless. His team opened the campaign with a dogged, deserved victory at Everton, ending a run of four consecutive defeats in this fixture, displaying a tenacity if not a cutting edge that bodes well for the months ahead.

Jorginho’s penalty late in first half stoppage time delivered the win over Frank Lampard’s striker-less side in what was a fairly tame and forgettable encounter. Everton lost two central defenders to injury to add to their opening day problems.

Both teams included two debutants, the former Burnley duo of James Tarkowski and Dwight McNeil for Everton, Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly for Chelsea, while the visitors’ new £62m recruit, Marc Cucurella, started on the bench. Ben Chilwell occupied the left wing-back role on his first start since suffering a serious knee injury against Juventus nine months ago. The Everton right-back, Nathan Patterson, made his Premier League debut eight months after his £12m arrival from Rangers.

There was a tumultuous reception for the Everton team when their coach pulled into Goodison Road before the game as fans again showed the support that was instrumental in last season’s survival.

The players responded with a sharp, high energy start only to lose Ben Godfrey in horrible circumstances 10 minutes into the new season. That his injury was so unnecessary increased Everton’s torment.

Serious disruption in central defence contributed to Everton’s brush with relegation last season and their latest setback stemmed from a back pass Godfrey played blind towards Jordan Pickford.

His loose ball went a yard out of