Chelsea succumbed to a 3-0 defeat to Everton in their English Premier League (EPL) encounter at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday.
Liam Rosenior’s side were looking to improve their domestic form and move into the coveted top four finish that guarantees UEFA Champions League football next season.
However, the Blues were undone by an Everton side led by Beto, who bullied their defence, and by Robert Sanchez, their error-prone goalkeeper.
Beto almost stole the ball from under Sanchez’s foot in the opening minutes as the goalkeeper dallied on the ball, but the Portugal-born Guinea-Bissau international latched onto a James Garner through ball to put Everton 1-0 up in 33 minutes.
The 28-year-old doubled Everton’s lead with another first-time strike on 62 minutes, shooting on the turn directly at Sanchez, but the ball went through his legs and trickled over the line for 2-0.
David Moyes’ side were in dreamland on 76 minutes with the third goal, Beto providing the assist for Iliman Ndiaye, who curled into the far top corner to seal their first-ever consecutive league victory at the stadium, which opened last August. It is also their biggest win at the stadium, as Everton moved up to seventh place on the EPL log with 46 points from 31 matches, two behind Chelsea, who suffered consecutive league defeats, and have won just once in six EPL matches.
Elsewhere, Liverpool also lost 2-1 at Brighton, Danny Welbeck’s brace punished the Reds, who suffered their 10th league defeat of the season. Also, Fulham came from a goal down to defeat relegation-threatened Burnley 3-1 in a match in which both Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi were starters.