They would be forgiven if they had been wrong if they thought that Nicolas Jackson’s conspicuous finish against Everton meant more than what it was. The 1-0 victory was a crucial step in persecution of the Champions League. Nevertheless, when the ball hit the back of the network, Jackson seemed to have tears in his eyes when it celebrated emotionally. It was the first striker in 14 games, and in the middle of the hosts’ recent fights in advance, it felt like a welcome breakthrough that the task of securing their European ambitions was far from over.

Before the start, Chelsea had an average of more shots per game at home than any other Premier League this season with 18.8 and the trend on Saturday. In the first half, the hosts had five shots against a team of Everton, which had little to play after the security was confirmed last weekend. Visitors hardly offered in the future, although Moisés Caicedo played space for Roméo Lavia for the first time in midfield at the expense of captain Reece James in midfield for the first time in over a month.

Noni Madueke was the first to test Jordan Pickford after he was clearly broken on the left, cut inside and rolled together in a low, mighty shot with his weaker foot that England No. 1 managed to move away with full route.

The breakthrough came when Pickford passed the ball to Beto, the 6 -foot -4 -inch striker, who bundled too easily from the ball of Trevoh Chalobah near the Halfway line. Chelsea wasted no time in the transition when Enzo Fernández played a straight passport for Jackson, who swung himself and scored a deep shot in the lower corner to score his first goal since December 15. Maresca, who celebrated his 50th Chelsea-Match with a touchline ban from a game after taking a third yellow card of the season against Fulham last weekend, celebrated loudly from his partially disabled view in the back of the press box.

Robert Sánchez collided hard in Vitaliy Mykolenko for seven minutes. The referee Chris Kavanagh gave the hosts a free kick when he looked more like Sánchez was charged with the full -back. If he hadn’t had any contact with the ball, the Chelsea goalkeeper might have been punished by the visitor.

Jackson, who certainly felt, almost doubled the leadership of his team after he caught Nathan Patterson’s weak backpass, but Pickford came to his right with a stop.

At 14, Everton was in the league at 14 this season, the best of all teams, but they lacked the Stamford Bridge, even when Chelsea started in the second half. David Moyes did well to maintain the Merseyside club, but with the American billionaire Christopher Sarofim, the latest investor in the club, there will be a lot of work next season.