Everton 3–6 Chelsea
Chelsea returned to the top of the table thanks to a crazy, pulsating match where the goals started after 37 seconds and at one stage went in at the rate of five in 10 minutes.
In one of the most bizarre games the Premier League has ever seen, Blues came away 3-6 winners – though the scoreboard could have shown any random pairing of numbers at full time.
After all of the debate over his fitness, Diego Costa started for Chelsea. He proved his value here with a brace to take his tally to four in three games for Chelsea.
The only omission was Oscar, sidelined with an ankle injury picked up in training.
Chelsea had a dream start – netting just 37 seconds from the kick off.
Ramires started a move that went wide right to Willian, before finding Cesc Fabregas in the inside right channel.
He slotted through one of the dream balls that are becoming his trademark – to find Costa in space. The Spaniard fired it home to his obvious delight.
Two minutes later it was two.
Costa was again involved, playing a headed one-two with Eden Hazard on the left corner of the box. The ball came across to Ramires, who passed to Branislav Ivanovic in acres of space on the right.
The Serb took his shot like a striker, to notch his second goal of a fantastic start to the season.
Everton put the ball in Chelsea's net on the quarter hour – Romelu Lukaku's header against the bar turned in on the rebound by Sylvain Distin.
But referee John Moss correctly called the effort offside.
From then on, the half was Everton's. They found avenue after avenue through the flimsy fabric of Chelsea's midfield.
And so it was really no surprise when they pulled one back just before the break.
Seamus Coleman pinged a cross over from the Everton right, and Chelsea's defence were so busy watching Lukaku that they missed Kevin Mirallas heading it in.
Everton's dominance, against the scoreline, continued after the break.
As did a niggly battle that seemed to develop between Coleman and Costa. The Chelsea man got a booking for just one on a series of episodes in that personal battle.
There then ensued a ten minute spell that brought all sorts of mayhem, and five goals, to the game.
Chelsea managed to grab a third against the run of play on 67 minutes.
Eden Hazard took the ball down to the goal line on the left, and threaded what may or may not have been a shot behind Howard, and saw it turned in by Coleman.
The hosts went straight up the other end from the restart – Naismith shooting past an outstretched Courtois.
A relatively sane gap of five minutes came, before Nemanja Matic made it 2-4 from the edge of the box.
Eto'o header from the penalty spot, off a Leighton Baines free kick, brought his new club within a gal of his former one again.
And then another minute passed before Ramires, set-up by Matic, made it 3-5.
Costa made sure of the result at the last – a backheel from the unlikely boot of sub John Mikel Obi setting him up to round the keeper on 90 minutes.
“We want seven,” sang the Blues faithful. Anything seemed possible, but that was how it ended.
Take a deep breath – there won't be another game like this for a while.
