Chelsea needed an 89th-minute winner to maintain their seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League table this evening as they left it late to beat Everton at Stamford Bridge.

The visitors provided a stubborn rearguard action for much of the match but were reduced to 10 men in the closing stages when Gareth Barry was shown a second yellow card.

Chelsea took advantage immediately as Willian fired in a shot that deflected past Tim Howard for the winning goal in the last minute of normal time.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at whether the league leaders were worthy of their victory.

Match statistics

CHELSEA
Shots: 21
On target: 7
Possession: 56%
Corners: 10
Fouls: 8

EVERTON
Shots: 7
On target: 4
Possession: 44%
Corners: 2
Fouls: 13

Was the result fair?

A late goal is always difficult to swallow for the team on the receiving end, and it will be particularly tough for Everton today after what was a very good defensive performance. Chelsea were certainly the better side on the night and had the vast majority of the chances, but Everton came with a game plan and very nearly pulled it off to perfection.

Indeed, the visitors had the best chance of the match when Romelu Lukaku was somehow denied by Petr Cech from just a couple of yards out. That could have given Everton the ultimate smash-and-grab victory, but in truth that would have been harsh on Chelsea. The hosts looked in control and comfortable for long periods, but rarely got out of second or third gear when coming forward. The urgency began to creep in in the final 10 minutes, and ultimately they were rewarded with the late winner.

There was only one team trying to win this match for much of it and, from that viewpoint, Chelsea deserve the victory. They also had the better of things in terms of possession, shots, number of chances created and overall play. However, Everton were happy to allow them all that and will feel that they warranted something from the game for their defensive efforts. It is hard to argue with that, but Chelsea continued to plug away and emerged with three points that could prove to be vital in the title race.

Chelsea's performance

The hosts began the match very brightly and had a number of decent sights of goal inside the opening 10 minutes. Throughout the first half it seemed a matter of when, rather than if, they would open the scoring as they continued to flood forward whenever possible. The likes of Eden Hazard, Juan Cuadrado and Willian all looked dangerous, and there was always the feeling that they could step up the pace if they really felt the need to.

However, as Everton continued to rebuff Chelsea's relentless attacks during the second half it became increasingly difficult to see where the breakthrough would come from. The visitors limited the space in and around their own box and frustrated the hosts time after time. In fact, but for an almost unfathomable stop from Cech, they could have found themselves behind midway through the second half. In the end, they needed a stroke of luck to get the winner, with Willian's shot deflecting off Steven Naismith.

It is now six games since Chelsea were anywhere near their best, which will be a concern for Jose Mourinho. They are picking up vital points, however, and with their nearest rivals Manchester City also winning, their ability to get a result in difficult circumstances tonight could prove important in the title race. Once again, Mourinho will take positives and negatives from this game, but perhaps the biggest plus to take is that it was the final game of Diego Costa's ban. He could well have made things more comfortable for Chelsea tonight.

Everton's performance

Not many teams have been able to come to Stamford Bridge and stifle Chelsea this season, but that is exactly what Everton did for 88 minutes of this match. They perhaps allowed Chelsea too much room to shoot in the opening stages but, as the minutes ticked by, they became more solid and refused to be drawn out of position. The visitors packed the edge of their own box and gave Chelsea very little room to work with.

It says a lot that the hosts were unable to carve out a really good chance throughout the 90 minutes. They had 21 attempts on goal, but none of them were chances that you felt Howard would not be favourite to keep out. Ultimately it took a deflection to beat the returning keeper, and Chelsea certainly needed that stroke of luck. It could have been even better for Everton too as they created arguably the two best chances of the match. Lukaku was denied by Cech in the opening 10 minutes before somehow seeing another effort saved from point-blank range in the second period.

The nature of the defeat will be gutting for Everton, who were so close to adding Chelsea's name to Manchester City's and Liverpool's on the list of big teams that they have taken points off already in 2015. The performance was a good one and Roberto Martinez will take plenty of positives from that, but once again the result was lacking. It is now just one win in nine in the league and they are only five points clear of the bottom three. That simply needs to improve.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Eden Hazard: While Chelsea looked comfortable for long spells of the game, there was only really one player who consistently looked like making the breakthrough. Hazard was ducking and weaving past defenders for fun and gave Everton a torrid time on almost every occasion that he was in possession. He looked a class apart from anyone else on the field at times.

Biggest gaffe

As much as Cech deserves a huge amount of credit for his phenomenal save to deny Lukaku, the Everton striker should have scored. The ball arrived to him at pace but he was only a few yards out and you'd expect a £28m man to put such chances away with his eyes closed. In fairness, he couldn't have done too much more and it is important to stress again how good the save was from Cech, but it also goes down as a big miss and one that proved important in the end.

Referee performance

Jonathan Moss was kept busy tonight, producing three yellow cards in the first half alone. He eventually sent Barry off for a second yellow and that was the right decision, while he also did well to spot most of the misdemeanours in the resulting scuffle between the two sets of players. Moments before that, Chelsea had a goal disallowed for offside against Branislav Ivanovic, and that too was a superb call from the officials.

What next?

Chelsea: With no FA Cup to target, Chelsea are next in action in the Champions League when they face Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital on Tuesday.

Everton: Everton's next assignment also sees them in European action as they face Swiss side Young Boys in the Europa League.