Everton lost further ground in their bid for a top five finish as Chelsea edged closer to the Premier League title with a 3-0 win.
A cagey first half saw the Blues hold the champions-elect before they were downed by a second half attack following Pedro’s long-range opener.
The ex-Barcelona playmaker’s 25-yard strike opened the floodgates as Gary Cahill later pounced when Maarten Stekelenburg spilled Eden Hazard’s free kick.
Willian rounded off the Londoners’ comprehensive victory in a slick attacking move that left Ronald Koeman’s side down and out of the game.
Here were the key talking points from Goodison Park:
Plenty of work to do this summer
If ever Everton’s 2017 resurgence required a reality check, Chelsea were the perfect candidates to deliver it.
There is a reason why Antonio Conte’s charges are continuing to enjoy a comfortable margin above all others atop the Premier League table.
Even after a first half which saw the Londoners frustrated in an encounter of relative half-chances, their perseverance won through time and again.
Convenient as it would be for Morgan Schneiderlin’s absence to absolve the Blues’ below-par showing, it was not restricted to a lost midfield battle.
Little could be done about Pedro’s opener but the comedy of errors for Gary Cahill’s follow-up and Willian’s curtain call should be raising alarm bells.
Ronald Koeman already knew that he had his work cut out this summer. This confirmed that the scale of Everton’s rebuilding is far bigger than first thought.
Davies: a man in a boy’s body
Tom Davies’ maturity since his Everton break-though should come as no surprise.
But the manner in which the 18-year-old carries himself in the high-pressure situations of big games continues to both awe and impress the Goodison crowd.
His tackling has become an artform, with Diego Costa reduced to his tired, old histrionics when confronted by a precision challenge early in the first half.
Referee Jon Moss refused to pander to the Spain international’s overreaction.
That theme continued even as the hosts found themselves on the back foot, with Davies barely drawing a foul let alone finding his way into the official’s book.
Where Ross Barkley was potentially guilty of being overzealous earlier in the season Davies is proof that a cool head can rest on a young pair of shoulders.
Lukaku fails another audition
Proving a point has often been Romelu Lukaku’s raison d’etre against Chelsea.
Yet hopes of a convincing audition against his former and potential future employers fell flat during the champions-elect’s latest visit to Merseyside.
There were flashes of the Lukaku which Evertonians had come to know and love, notably when he brought down the ball and led Cahill on a merry dance.
It proved to be a false dawn. At every other turn, Conte’s side had managed to trump the Belgium international with heavy shackling from a robust defence
This is hardly a new phenomenon; of his 84 goals in the Premier League, the 23-year-old has mustered only 11 against the so-called more illustrious opponents.
With the danger of becoming a flat-track bully, another 12 months of attempted fine-turning at Goodison might not be such a bad idea after all for Lukaku.
Method in the Kone madness?
Koeman has rarely beaten around the bush when it comes to Everton’s season.
This, after all, is the man who publicly challenged Barkley to both raise is game and either put up or shut up amid the uncertainty of his future at the club.
But the Dutchman may be beginning to make his salient points in other ways. How else do you explain the second-half introduction of Arouna Kone?
Kone was on the verge of leaving Goodison in the previous transfer window before a proposed move to Crystal Palace fell through at the eleventh hour.
With only three games of the campaign remaining, the injury-hit Ivorian’s outing was not based on a potential shop window due to his impending contract expiry.
It will, however, have sent a message to a watching Farhad Moshiri at the lack of depth currently within Everton’s ranks ahead of a crucial transfer window.