Everton 0 Chelsea 1:Michael Essien scored his second goal in three days to move Chelsea to within two points of Manchester United and keep them in the hunt for the Premier League title with a 1-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park.

The Ghanaian international, who scored against Wigan on Monday night, struck four minutes before the break to secure the points and leave Everton five points adrift of fourth-placed Liverpool and four points ahead of Portsmouth in sixth.

Chelsea have played a game more than United, who are still very much favourites for the title, but Alex Ferguson's side still have to travel to Stamford Bridge on April 26th.

Chelsea started with purpose and possession. It took 20 minutes for Everton to even get into the visitors' box, and that was from a corner.

Chelsea showed movement and passing that Everton found it hard to cope with. Twice in the opening spell Wright-Phillips had chances, with one charged down and the other curled over.

But Everton had the first real chance when Manuel Fernandes saw a stinging free-kick palmed away by Petr Cech — the ball bouncing up alarmingly in front of the goalkeeper.

At the other end Nicolas Anelka came in off the left flank to fire a low shot into the side-netting, before Carvalho was booked after 23 minutes for bringing down Joleon Lescott in full flow down the left.

On the half-hour, Everton were thwarted by a fine saving tackle from Essien, after Lescott had found Andrew Johnson on the penalty spot with time to work.

Wright-Phillips wasted a glorious chance when Salomon Kalou threaded a superb ball into the box for the winger to run onto.

Wright-Phillips needed to shoot first time but instead tried to drag the ball round Tim Howard, and the chance was lost.

Four minutes from the break, Chelsea made the decisive breakthrough.  Neat passing involving Kalou, Essien and Wright-Phillips ended with the ball deflecting off Phil Jagielka straight into the path of the Ghanaian — who lifted the ball into the top corner with clinical ease.

The pattern changed little after the break, with Everton trying their best but meeting stern resistence from John Terry and Carvalho.

With Chelsea moving efficiently towards victory, Everton had to change things and Thomas Gravesen and Victor Anichebe took over from Johnson and Pienaar.

Everton at last made an impression and Fernandes produced a stunning, dipping free-kick which missed the far post by a coat of paint,

With the hosts daring to venture forward, the gaps were there for Joe Cole and Wright-Phillips to exploit. Essien fired a dipping drive just over before Malouda replaced Joe Cole after 76 minutes.

Chelsea sent on Claude Makelele for Wright-Phillips with 10 minutes left — giving Everton another midfield obstacle to negotiate.

Slowly the life was squeezed out of the hosts, with Ayegbeni Yakubu getting precious little out of Terry as the visitors clinically ran down the clock.