Toffees’ bite pains Blues

Everton 1 Chelsea 0

“We are not unbeatable,” said Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, as he reflected on a sobering 90 minutes at Goodison Park.

“This is a different profile. This is a different team.”

Not the words Roman Abramovich will want to hear either. Mourinho knows it too.

“We are not the kind of club who will accept in a cool way that things will come.

“We are not this kind of club. We are going to chase it. The beginning of the season was hard. Away to Manchester United; Away in the Super Cup against Bayern. Away at Everton. It was quite hard. That does not help. But this is the story of a team with 21 shots that couldn’t score a goal. That is the beauty of football. Not for me, but for them (Everton).”

A victory — which would have sent them back to the top — or even a draw at Goodison on Saturday would have made this a very satisfactory start to the season.

Now, any early initiative over their main title rivals in Manchester has been surrendered.

All three have shown flaws in their armour in these early weeks. But the early evidence suggests it will be no stroll for Mourinho. Narrow wins over Hull and Aston Villa and a satisfactory, if nauseating, draw at Old Trafford amount to seven points from a possible 12 — the bare minimum demanded.

In Mourinho’s first season in charge in 2004/05, when they won the title it took Chelsea until the ninth game, against Manchester City on October 16, for them to lose and have dropped five points.

Mourinho has an embarrassment of riches available to him, particularly in attacking midfield positions — £32m recruit Willian failed to even make the bench — yet there are scant signs the Portuguese yet knows his best team.

The win represented Roberto Martinez’s first in the league since replacing David Moyes.

The Toffees remain unbeaten and, on this evidence, look capable of continuing the progress they made under the Scot.

James McCarthy had to wait until the second half to make his Toffees bow following his £13m arrival from Wigan, but it was an accomplished cameo which showed tactical discipline as the home side defended their advantage.

There were also conflicting debuts for Chelsea’s Samuel Eto’o, who joined on a one-year deal from Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, and Gareth Barry, signed on a season-long loan from Man City.

Eto’o was denied what looked a certain debut goal by Barry’s stunning last-ditch tackle in an incident which neatly summed up the duo’s days.

“It could not have started better,” Barry said. “To get that against a team like Chelsea has set us up and will give us a lot of confidence.”

Chelsea, according to Mourinho, registered 21 attempts but managed to get just nine on target, and the villain-in-chief was Eto’o.

Aside from failing to convert with the goal gaping, he spurned a handful of other opportunities, which the visitors were left to rue in first-half added time.

Nikica Jelavic, at the back post, nodded Leon Osman’s clipped cross back into Steven Naismith’s path and, with Petr Cech caught in between, he powered home a header into the roof of the net.

John Obi Mikel, however, insisted it is only a matter of time before former Barcelona and Inter Milan player Eto’o overcomes any initial ring-rustiness.

“It took me six months to a year to settle in but I was young then,” Mikel said. “For somebody like Eto’o, with so much experience in so many leagues, it won’t take that long. You might say it hasn’t helped that he’s been in Russia for two years but he looked sharp enough to me. It won’t take him very long to get his fitness back. He is a world-class player and a fantastic player. We have to keep playing with him and the goals will come.”

EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Howard 6; Coleman 7, Jagielka 7, Distin 6, Baines 7; Osman 7, Barry 8; Naismith 7 (Stones 89), Barkley 7, Mirallas 6 (Deulofeu 90); Jelavic 5 (McCarthy 66, 6)

Subs not used: Robles, Heitinga, Oviedo, Gueye.

CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Cech 6; Ivanovic 7, Luiz 5, Terry 6, Cole 5 (Torres 69, 5); Ramires 7, Mikel 6; Schurrle 5 (Lampard 57, 5), Hazard 7, Mata 7 (Oscar 57, 6); Eto’o 5

Subs not used: Schwarzer, Essien, De Bruyne, Cahill.

Referee: Howard Webb.