Everton vs Chelsea: Ainsley Maitland-Niles Refuses to Take the Knee

· GiveMeSport

Everton welcomed Chelsea to the Hill Dickinson Stadium in the Premier League.

On Saturday afternoon, the first match of the weekend's Premier League fixtures took place at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, with unbeaten Everton hosting Chelsea .

In what was a fiercely contested first half, Jack Grealish went close for Everton while Moises Caicedo hit the woodwork for the visitors.

At the start of the second period, Xabi Alonso’s men took the lead through Pedro Neto in the 46th minute. In the 90th minute, Chelsea sealed the deal as Neto scored his second of the afternoon to make it 2-0 to the London club.

Ahead of kick-off, as part of the Premier League’s ‘No Room For Racism’ campaign, players from both teams took the knee. However, one player appeared to refuse to take part.

Players in England’s top flight are set to take the knee ahead of kick-off in the next two weeks, with the Premier League continuing their aim to kick racism out of the game. The decision to do so in October is due to the fact that it is also Black History Month in the United Kingdom.

As reported by talkSPORT, Everton star Ainsley Maitland-Niles refused to take the knee ahead of kick-off as he was seen standing while the other players went down on one knee.

It has been claimed that it is currently unclear why Maitland-Niles decided not to take part in the gesture, which was largely a weekly ritual between 2020 and 2022.

Previously, Brentford star Ivan Toney explained why he and his teammates stopped taking part in the gesture.

> He said: “We are kind of being used as puppets, in my eyes; take the knee and the people at the top can rest for a while now, which is pretty silly and pretty pointless. Nothing is changing.”

Meanwhile, the England Women’s team refused to take the knee during the 2025 Euros against Italy following online racial abuse directed at Jess Carter.

At the time, full-back Lucy Bronze stated that the anti-racism message is not 'as strong as it used to be'.

> She explained: “It was driven by the group… obviously certain individuals more than others. I think it was just the fact that we feel as a collective, is the message as strong as it used to be? Is the message really hitting hard? > > “Because to us it feels like it's not if these things are still happening to our players in the biggest tournaments of their lives. It's about putting another statement out there to say, it's something that still is a problem, it's something that still needs to be put right. > > “More needs to be done in football, more needs to be done in society. What that is right now as an individual, I don't exactly know.”

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