Chelsea also had goalkeeper Petr Cech to thank for two saves to
deny Everton striker Romelu Lukaku on a night when second-place
Manchester City wrapped up a more comprehensive 4-1 victory at
Stoke City.
Everton, who had Gareth Barry sent off, remain 12th. Chelsea
manager Jose Mourinho handed a first start to new signing Juan
Cuadrado, who had made his debut in Saturday's 2-1 win at Aston
Villa, while Cesc Fabregas returned from injury on the bench.
Everton, beaten 6-3 at home by the Premier League leaders in
August, recalled fit-again goalkeeper Tim Howard for his first
appearance of 2015, relegating Joel Robles to the bench.
Nemanja Matic shrugged off two challengers to fire the game's first
shot over the bar.
Cuadrado saw an effort blocked and appealed in vain for a penalty
when Steven Naismith flicked the rebound away with his shoulder.
The home side continued to dominate, with Willian curling an effort
just over, but there was a chance at the other end for Lukaku that
saw Cech stick out a leg to deny the former Chelsea man.
Within seconds Cuadrado had fired across goal and wide, and
Howard did well to palm away a header from Loic Remy.
Everton were living dangerously and were relieved that Eden Hazard
was unable to make contact right in front of goal and when a swift
counter-attack saw Remy fail to hit the target.
Branislav Ivanovic's blushes were saved by an offside flag after he
blasted over from close range, but Lukaku was still trying to prove a
point and curled a low drive at Cech, who was preferred to Thibaut
Courtois.
Howard was by far the busier goalkeeper, though, and did well to
cling on to Ivanovic's low drive as blue shirts converged. Everton
were grateful for the half-time whistle.
Everton replaced Muhamed Besic, who had been booked, with James
McCarthy for the second period, which began with Howard saving an
Ivanovic header and Seamus Coleman shown a yellow card for
impeding Hazard.
Hazard was Chelsea's main threat and the speedy Belgian saw a
near-post effort batted away by Howard.
The pressure was mounting, but Howard was able to save again, this
time from the excellent Matic's free-kick, and the bearded American
was soon called into action once more, this time to deny Willian.
But suddenly Cech was the Chelsea hero when Lukaku got on the end
of a low ball across the box from Bryan Oviedo.
The home defence were helpless as the forward connected right in
front of goal, but somehow Cech was able to get his leg in the way for
a second time.
Mourinho responded with a double change, replacing Remy and the
lively Cuadrado with Didier Drogba and Fabregas, while opposite
number Roberto Martinez sent Darron Gibson and Kevin Mirallas into
the fray.
Both the visitors' newcomers were keen to make an impact, with
Gibson seeing a header easily saved before Mirallas fired just over
from outside the box.
Matic thought he had finally broken the deadlock in the 86th minute,
but it was ruled out because it had deflected in off Ivanovic, who was
offside.
Everton were down to 10 men a minute later when Barry, who had
been booked in the first half, was shown a second yellow card for a
foul on Willian.
Players from both sides squared up to each other in the aftermath,
with referee Jonathan Moss missing an apparent headbutt by
Ivanovic on McCarthy.
Within seconds of play restarting Willian won the game for Chelsea
with a well-struck return of another Howard punch that went through
Gibson's legs and deceived the goalkeeper at his near post.
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