They say there are no easy games in the Premier League anymore but Everton came up against the ideal opponents this evening as they went in search of a first home win in almost three months.
Since mid-January, doomed Burnley had drawn at Liverpool and Chelsea, beaten Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and almost completed an incredible comeback from 3-0 down against Brentford at Turf Moor at the weekend, only to have VAR rule out two goals that might have secured them a 4-4 draw.
Perhaps that agonising late drama knocked the stuffing out of Scott Parker’s men because tonight, in stark contrast to those afore-mentioned impressive exploits, they barely laid a glove on the Blues who edged themselves in front through a first-half goal by ex-Claret, James Tarkowski, and then set the seal on three valuable points when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall notched on the hour mark to double the lead.
Were it not for indecision in one instance and then a missing slice of fortune in another, Idrissa Gueye might have helped pad the scoreline to match the one by which Everton beat Nottingham Forest in their last victory in front of their own fans back in early December but no one of a Blue persuasion will be too concerned.
This was just what David Moyes needed by way of a follow-up to Saturday’s stirring win over Newcastle in the North East. His charges controlled the game for all bar a couple of spells at the beginning and end of the second half with their highest possession percentage since the 1-1 draw here with Leeds in late January and ran out surprisingly comfortable winners.
What wasn’t surprising in the context of the weekend performance at St James’s Park was Moyes’s unchanged line-up, which kept faith with Beto and Dwight McNeil. And if the XI that started the game lacked for long spells in the first period the requisite guile and creativity to break Burnley down, they were at least disciplined and patient in their build-up play and warmed to their task with more freedom as the game wore on.
An early opportunity for Lyle Foster to race away on the counter-attack and drag a shot across Jordan Pickford’s goal with Tarkowski again caught far too far upfield wasn’t to be repeated and the Toffees settled into a pattern of measured pressure.
Beto won a couple of early corners before Kyle Walker conceded two more as he snuffed out Iliman Ndiaye’s attempt to dribble towards goal and then headed behind his byline, set-piece opportunities that allowed James Garner to find his range for the opening goal in the 32 minute.
The midfielder curled an inviting free-kick behind the defence and Tarkowski rose behind Jarrad Branthwaite to plant a header across Martin Dubravka and into the far side of the goal.
And after Dewsbury-Hall had smashed over from a free-kick routine, Branthwaite went close to reprising his goal against Newcastle three days ago from another Garner free-kick. Once again the big defender ghosted in front of his marker and glanced a header goal-wards but Dubravka was equal to it and pawed it to safety.
From the subsequent corner, McNeil had a volley saved by the keeper and after Ndiaye had his legs taken out from under him by Dubravka but neither referee Tim Robinson nor VAR Neil Davies found it worthy of a penalty, McNeil had one more strike towards the target. However, his placed side-footer was blocked.
Burnley were mystifyingly absent from the contest as an attacking force and until Jaidon Anthony’s 79th-minute daisy-cutter and Foster’s close-range prod in stoppage time that prompted another brilliant reaction save by Pickford, the only time they looked remotely threatening was from a couple of suicidal back-passes by Everton players that, thankfully, came to nothing.
Instead, all the threat came from the hosts. Beto couldn’t get enough on a wonderful Dewsbury-Hall cross and dropped a header onto the roof of the net in the 52nd minute and two minutes later Ndiaye had the ball in the net, only to have his celebrations cut short by the linesman’s flag.
Garner had done well to win the ball in midfield and feed Gueye but after driving into the centre of the Clarets’ defence, he had delayed his final pass too long and Ndiaye had strayed beyond the last defender.
Six minutes after that, the points were effectively wrapped up. McNeil cut in off the right flank to collect a return pass from Beto which he controlled well before pinging it across the outside of the box to Gueye. The Senegalese slipped the ball forward to meet Dewsbury-Hall’s run and he out-paced Basir Humphreys before deftly clipping it over Dubravka into the net.
2-0 was so nearly 3-0 with a quarter of an hour to go when Gueye tenaciously won the ball back near the byline, turned back towards goal and flighted a lovely shot that seemed destined for the top corner until it bounced off the crossbar and away.
Dewsbury-Hall forced one last save from the goalkeeper shortly afterwards with a deflected strike that Dubravka did well to parry before Moyes made progressive substitutions that saw Branthwaite, Beto, McNeil, Gueye and Ndiaye make way for Michael Keane, Thierno Barry, Tyrique George, Tim Iroegbunam and Tyler Dibling come on.
Both McNeil and Beto, solid in the win on Saturday, had justified their inclusions with decent displays and if it felt a little disappointing not to see the younger wingers get more game time when Everton were in a commanding position, Moyes probably didn't want to take any chances after such a long winless run on home turf.
Indeed, Bramley-Moore Dock under the lights has largely been a recipe for pain, frustration or both for Everton so far this season — all four of their prior home wins had been daytime kick-offs — so it was pleasing to see the Blues finally send their long-suffering fans into the night with a victory to savour for the first time.
They’re unlikely to face as accommodating opponents as Burnley between now and the end of the campaign but getting the monkey off their backs ahead of the visits of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City in the coming weeks will surely feel good.
Moyes will, no doubt, stress the need to take it one step at a time but having finally backed up a handsome away win with three points by the Mersey that brings them back to within a point of seventh place, talk of Europe doesn’t feel all that fanciful.