Half-time: Everton 1 Chelsea 2

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Diego Costa grabbed his third goal in as many games as Chelsea scored twice in the opening three minutes to take a first-half lead.

Costa showed no signs of the hamstring strain that had threatened to rule him out as he ran on to a Cesc Fabregas pass and hit the ball through the legs of Everton keeper Tim Howard after 35 seconds.

The goal came at the end of a wonderful team move and that quality surfaced again just over two minutes later to make it 2-0.

Some slick build-up play ended with Costa finding Ramires, and the Brazilian’s pass was fired low into the net by Branislav Ivanovic.

The Serbian looked fractionally offside and the hosts complained, but they were lucky to avoid going down to 10 men when Howard handled the ball outside his area soon after.

Everton then settled and began to dominate possession and create chances.

Former Blues striker Romelu Lukaku hit the bar with a towering header and Sylvain Distin’s follow-up effort was correctly ruled out for offside.

And the strong home pressure was rewarded when Kevin Mirallas headed home a fine Seamus Coleman cross to make it 2-1 just before the interval.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Fabregas, Matic; Ramires, Willian, Hazard; Costa.
Subs: Cech, Luis, Zouma, Mikel, Schurrle, Salah, Drogba.

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