Maresca 'happy' but Chelsea streak ends

The immediate aim of the Friedkin Group is to restore stability to Everton after their takeover on Thursday. In some ways, Sean Dyche has beaten his new employers to it. High-flying Chelsea became the latest team to run into a royal blue wall and out of ideas as they lost valuable ground in the title race.

Enzo Maresca declared himself content with a point at a ground where Chelsea had lost on five of their previous six visits, despite the end of an eight-match winning run in all competitions. The Chelsea head coach has insisted all along that his young side lack the experience and pedigree to sustain a title challenge with Liverpool. His argument gained credence here but Everton, he asserted, provided a valuable learning curve for a team that failed to score in a Premier League game for the first time since the opening day.

"I am absolutely happy," Maresca said. "I was quite worried about this game: tricky game, tricky stadium, tricky team. Defensively they are top, one of the five best teams in Europe in terms of clean sheets. You have to learn how to play different games: long ball, second ball, set pieces.