LIVERPOOL — Chelsea won at Everton on Saturday, but the afternoon belonged to the goalkeeper who left the pitch on a stretcher. Emiliano Martinez collided with Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite in the second half at Hill Dickinson Stadium, and Pedro Neto, who scored both goals in a 2-0 win, dedicated the result to him. “This win is for Emi after his injury,” Neto said.
Mike Penders replaced Martinez for his Premier League debut after lengthy treatment. Chelsea had started with a single change, in which Hato replaced Chavarria, and were forced into an unplanned second. “As far as I know he left the stadium conscious,” manager Xabi Alonso said of Martinez. “Right now he is in the hospital doing precautionary tests, so let’s see.”
The result left two matters unsettled: how badly Martinez is hurt, and why Morgan Rogers escaped a sending off before the interval.
Rogers, already on a yellow card, was spared punishment in the 42nd minute after a 50-50 challenge with Everton’s James Garner, whose knee his studs appeared to catch, Sky Sports reported. Mike Dean, the former Premier League referee, said on Soccer Saturday: “I think it’s a minimum yellow, but I called red straight away.”
Neto scored 43 seconds after the restart, and again in the 90th minute when he reached a loose ball after Jordan Henderson’s free kick, his first Premier League brace. Everton managed one shot on target after the break and six in total, their fewest in a league game since last December, by Sky’s count. “I can’t think of many chances we had, which is the biggest indictment I can give of our performance,” Moyes said.
Chelsea now have 13 points from seven games, Sky counted, and sit in the Champions League places for now. Alonso said the team looked “mature” but would not read much into it: “It is just one game.”
NBC Sports carried Alonso’s hospital update, and none of the reports cited here goes further than “let’s see.” Whether Martinez is anywhere near the squad for Chelsea’s next match is unknown.
