Everton’s great run finally came to an end in the League Cup against an extremely professional Chelsea side. Joe Cole’s 70th minute strike ended up being the difference on the night, with Chelsea winning the tie 3-1 overall. Pre-match, Everton certainly felt that a cup upset was on the cards, and this was proved by the fact it was a sell out at Goodison Park. Although Chelsea were without many of their stars, their team certainly wasn’t weak - 10 of the players were full internationals. Everton were also boosted by the news that Manuel Fernandes started, with Phil Neville dropping to right back in place of Tony Hibbert.

Even before kick off, it was evident that the fans expected - the atmosphere was electric, and the team walked out to the z-cars and the loudest of Goodison roars. The noise continued for around five minutes, and as Everton started to lose their early dominance, the sound died down. There was nothing to choose between the two teams at half time, although Chelsea had dealt with all the Everton chances in a superb manner at the back.

In the second half, the crowd seemed to suffer the Goodison silence that seems to be taking over the ground - but, this could have been down to the tension. At the 55 minute mark, Everton enjoyed a great spell of possession, creating four chances, and one disallowed goal - as Petr Cech seemed to trip himself up when going to claim a cross. The other chance came to Phil Neville, who tried to smash a shot past Petr Cech, but the keeper managed to parry the ball away to safety.

Everton, as is usual in recent times, suffered for not taking their chances. Another long ball - similar to the kind that was used when Arsenal visited GP, baffled the Everton defence, caused confusion between Valente and Lescott, and allowed Joe Cole to finish past Tim Howard.

The tie was then dead and buried, and you could see the players heads drop. Arteta endeavoured to get Everton back into the game, but as has been the same in recent weeks, his crossing from the dead ball situation was poor, along with Fernandes, who looked like a player in much need of match practice, although, the idea’s were there from the Portuguese midfielder.

A disappointing result for the Goodison faithful, who watched their team yet again fail to deliver against the so called “Big Four”. Everton now have 10 days to prepare for a very tricky home tie against an in form Tottenham - who will be Chelsea’s opponents in the League Cup Final at Wembley.