[ad_pod ]

At long last Yerry Mina made his first start for the Toffees against Chelsea, but that was only thanks to Kurt Zouma being forced to watch on from the sidelines due to his loan agreement.

Had the French ace who has developed a strong partnership with Michael Keane played, Mina would likely still be waiting to make his first appearance under Marco Silva - beyond a brief run out against Brighton as a stoppage-time substitute.

The former Barcelona man’s performance, though, may prove to be his only for a while as mostly down to a wonder display by Jordan Pickford, Chelsea continued to cause problems for Everton's defence in an eventual nil-nil.

Marcos Alonso particularly had a string of solid efforts from left-back for Chelsea, narrowly missing the target on the 24th minute as his free-kick curled around the Everton wall, before a drilled effort midway through the second half rattled the post.

Mina, meanwhile, looked uncomfortable throughout the affair, encapsulated by the hosts' calls for a penalty moments before the Spaniard had smashed the woodwork.

Yerry Mina's stats against Chelsea, according to WhoScored

According to WhoScored, the 6 foot 5 defender only committed one foul in the match, but an incident with Alvaro Morata that the referee waved away showed worrying signs of Everton’s summer signing lacking awareness in the box.

The World Cup sensation may not have hauled the ex-Real Madrid man to the ground, but he gave the striker enough reason to look for a penalty with Mina’s arm tangled around Morata's neck.

On the ball, the 24-year-old was a lot more solid, completing 91% of his 32 passes, and the Toffees could have looked to utilise Mina’s height better, given he won just the single aerial duel despite rising to prominence in Russia due to his goal scoring threat in the air.

Unfortunately for the Colombian, Silva will now likely call on Zouma to return after the international break, leaving Mina again looking to impress his Portuguese coach in training at Finch Farm.