Chelsea and Everton played out a very entertaining match at Stamford Bridge on the last day of this year’s Premier League season. Chelsea, for the third time in as many matches, came out on top by a 2-1 scoreline. Chelsea’s player of the year Juan Mata and Fernando Torres were on target while Steven Naismith scored for the Toffees.

The match started off full of energy with great football being played at both ends of the pitch. Demba Ba took a strong shot from outside the box in the seventh minute which Tim Howard couldn’t hold on to, only for Mata to pounce on the loose ball and put it in the net. Barely ten minutes later, Chelsea paid for some poor defending, when Victor Anichebe brilliantly played Naismith in, who made no mistake in finding the corner of the net. The rest of the half was very hotly contested with both sides creating lots of chances but failing to take any. The Toffees were particularly unlucky to see a Darron Gibson effort from range cannon back off the same crossbar twice!

Marouane Fellaini has made it clear to the Everton management that he would want to follow boss David Moyes to Manchester United, reports the Mirror.

The central midfielder has been the crown jewel of the Merseyside club as he helped Everton finish above Liverpool for a second consecutive season. Playing in an advanced midfield role, Fellaini scored 12 goals in all competitions and sometimes single-handedly drove Everton forward. However, his shift into the attacking midfield could be the very undoing of his Everton career.

Chelsea and Everton bid farewell to their respective managers on the final day of the Premier League and fittingly the game at Stamford Bridge was a evenly contested encounter that the Blues edged 2-1. Fernando Torres scored the decisive winner in the 76^th minute, his first goal in the Premier League since Boxing Day. Everton had earlier cancelled out Juan Mata’s 7^th minute opener through Steven Naismith on 14 minutes. The win ensures that Chelsea finish 3^rd and with it secure automatic qualification for next season’s Champions league while 5^th placed Everton finished above Liverpool despite the defeat.

Rafa Benitez had a surprise up his sleeve for Chelsea’s last home game of the season as he handed Nathan Ake a start whole Fernando Torres and Demba Ba also started together up-front. The top-heavy side had only Frank Lampard to call upon in a traditional central midfield role, with Juan Mata and Oscar the conduit between attack and defence. Branislav Ivanovic was shifted out to the right to accommodate Gary Cahill and David Luiz in the centre while Ashley Cole took up his usual position on the left.

Rafael Benitez hasn’t had it easy since his appointment as the Chelsea ‘Interim Manager’. He has always been criticised for his past affiliations with Liverpool and has been booed vociferously by the fans in virtually every single game. Despite that, he has come through for Chelsea when they needed him the most. Though some Chelsea fans may not admit it, he has done a pretty decent job. With a 250,000 bonus on offer to Benitez if Chelsea finishes third, you can expect him to ensure that the team is up for the contest tonight.

Everton meanwhile will also be saying goodbye to their manager David Moyes, a man who has been a mainstay in the Toffees’ dressing room for a good part of eleven long years. Everton will need no further motivation to give their gaffer a fond farewell, and will no doubt go all out to show that they can compete with Chelsea, even if they are away from home.

Ross Barkley, the 19 year old Everton midfielder, might well turn out to be Manchester United incoming boss David Moyes’ first signing, according to the reports on CaughtOffside.com.

The Scot, who is to take over the helm of affairs at Manchester United from 1st July, is being linked daily with one or the other of his current crop of players, with different newspapers and websites seemingly taking turns to name one player after another as his first possible signing. Barkley is the fourth Evertonian so far to be linked with a move to Old Trafford, joining the likes of Marouane Fellaini, Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka. At the current rate, one wonders if there would be any players left in Everton by the time the January transfer window opens, or if the players at the club are really so good, why bother to move at all!

After Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines, it is the turn of defender Phil Jagielka to be linked with a move to Old Trafford. The England International is expected to accompany outgoing manager David Moyes to OT, when the Scot takes over the reins at Manchester United from July 1st this year.

Jagielka is the third Everton player, after Fellaini and Baines, linked with a move to United this summer. According to The Daily Express though Jagielka might actually prove to be the Scot’s first signing, indicating the importance of the player in his manager’s eyes.

The conspiracy theories continue to abound Manchester United, with the latest from the Metro suggesting that Carlo Ancelotti was Sir Alex Ferguson’s primary choice to succeed him, and David Moyes was approached after the Italian rejected the opportunity to move to United.

According to reports, Sir Alex had tried persuading the 53 year old former Chelsea manager to succeed him at Old Trafford, last week. It was only after Ancelotti declined the offer, that Moyes was approached.