Impressive Everton Power Past Norwich

Two sublime strikes lifted Everton over Norwich on the back of another dominant performance.

Everton 2-0 Norwich City

The trials of the mid-season grind continue to add wrinkles to Roberto Martinez's plans but his Everton side rolled past Norwich City today to jump back into the Premier League top four. Yet more setbacks on the injury front, most notably to Ross Barkley, enforced more changes to the manager's starting line-up but two superb strikes effectively sealed the game before an hour had elapsed and added another three crucial home points in quest for Champions League qualification.

A suspected broken toe for Barkley and the continued absence of Sylvain Distin was compounded by an apparent injury to Antolin Alcaraz that ruled him out before kick off, and Steven Pienaar added to the list of concerns when he was substituted with a suspected knock with 20 minutes to go. Everton shrugged off the disruption, though, and the margin of their lead even afforded Martinez the luxury of some experimentation with three at the back in what was a forgettable last quarter of an hour.

Aided by the return of Phil Jagielka, who moved to the left side of central defence to partner young John Stones, the Blues established their now customary grip on the game early in the first half. Seamus Coleman and Romelu Lukaku had similar left-foot efforts comfortably saved by John Ruddy in the Canaries' goal in the early going but the Belgian striker had the first real chance in the 12th minute.

His compatriot, Kevin Mirallas, whipped an excellent ball to the back post where Lukaku looked odds-on to score but a moment's hesitation, perhaps for fear of colliding with the upright, saw him head wide from a couple of yards out.

Norwich, who came into the match on a run of five games without a win, were ceding much of the possession to the home side but they carved out a gilt-edged chance for Gary Hooper with 15 minutes gone when he latched onto Whitaker's ball over the top but a poor first touch allowed Tim Howard to smother it at his feet and keep matters goalless.

Everton were enjoying plenty of room in which to operate in front of the visitors' back four and, after Mirallas had hammered a deflected shot over the bar from 25 yards and Baines had raked a left-footer wide from the edge of the box, great hold-up play by Lukaku help set up the opening goal.

Jagielka went into a meaty challenge in his own half that sent a high ball forward that Lukaku pulled down and held until Gareth Barry was able to join the attack from deep. The veteran midfielder collected the striker's pass, advanced into space ahead of him as the defence backed off before unleashing a laser-like effort that flew past Ruddy's despairing glove and inside the far post.

Everton were in the driving seat and looking comfortable but a 1-0 lead is a slender one in the modern-day top flight, as evidenced five minutes later when Norwich counter-attacked quickly and Ricky van Wolsvinkel, a scorer in the reverse fixture at Carrow Road on the opening day, forced a flying, one-handed save from Howard as he tried a curler from 20 yards.

The Blues always looked the more dangerous side, though, and they racked up a host of chances before half time on the back of some lovely football at times as they sought to extend their lead. Osman skied a good chance after Lukaku had seized on a loose ball by Van Wolsvinkel and Coleman also lashed the ball over from close range at the end of a sustained period of Everton pressure 10 minutes before the interval.

It was Norwich who might have scored on the stroke of half time, though. Stones had again been exhibiting composure beyond his years for much of the first half but he was booked in the 44th minute for a heavy challenge through Bradley Johnson and his mis-judgement of another lofted ball into the area almost let Hooper in a minute later. Howard came off his line quickly to close out the danger, although there was momentary chaos in the Everton defence with the American well out of his six-yard box but they got away with it.

The pattern of the first period continued in the second and James McCarthy's chance to notch his first goal for Everton looked to have arrived eight minutes after the restart but his shot was deflected over the bar and Mirallas wasted the resulting corner.

After Van Wolsvinkel had held off Stones and ballooned a shot over the bar, Everton doubled their advantage in the 58th minute when Baines was chopped down 25 yards from goal by Robert Snodgrass and Mirallas whipped the resulting free kick past Ruddy with precision.

2-0 looked to have become 3-0 seven minutes later when Lukaku raced onto a wonderful through-ball by Coleman, clipped the ball over the advancing Ruddy and slid the ball home as it skidded towards the byline but his "goal" was ruled out by the linesman's flag.

With Everton in clear control of the game, Martinez took the opportunity to withdraw Osman in favour of John Heitinga with 68 minutes gone and transition to a back three before Pienaar gingerly left the fray a couple of minutes later to be replaced by Steven Naismith. The result of the Blues' change in formation and Canaries boss Chris Hughton's own switch that introduced Nathan Redmond had a marked effect on the pattern of the game. Everton visibly lost their shape for a good 10 to 15 minutes and Redmond gave Coleman a couple of scares, not least when he skinned the Irishman and cut inside where Howard had to save the winger's shot with his feet.

Johnson then tried his luck with two decent long-range efforts as untidiness started to creep into Everton's play, Snodgrass came closest to setting up a nervy finale when he rose highest to meet a bouncing ball in the home area but his header bounced off the post, and Heitinga had to be alert to block a cross from the same player after he looked to have twisted his way past the Dutchman.

The Blues' defence held, though, and it was clear by around the 85th-minute mark that any fire Norwich had been extinguished, allowing Everton to resume their ascendancy and almost put the game completely to bed following excellent work by Naismith down the right touchline. He squirmed his way past Martin Olsson and into the clear but McCarthy was closed down as he met the Scot's square pass.

Three more vital points, then, on an afternoon when, again, all of Everton's rivals for the top four picked up maximum points. The result lifts Martinez's side back into fourth where they will stay if Liverpool lose at Stoke tomorrow but, importantly, it re-establishes momentum in the League following the draw at the Britannia Stadium on New Year's Day. Everton have more points now, after 21 games, than at any time in the Premier League era but the competition for places around them allows for no margin for error.

Though they should really have scored more, didn't make it through the 90 minutes without a period of untidy play and it was something of a learning experience for Stones – something that is vital for his development, particularly given the clean sheet – the standard of play was often terrific and McCarthy and Barry were relentless at times in the middle.

The nine-day break between now and the trip to West Bromwich Albion on the Monday after next will hopefully give some of those injured players time to recover but the manager will be more than happy at the seamless way in which his team has dealt with the chopping and changing of personnel in recent games and still kept putting points on the board.

It will also give Martinez time to pursue further additions to his squad than the one signing he has already completed this month; winger Aiden McGeady was paraded before the match today after signing from Spartak Moscow and, with Nikica Jelavic in talks with Hull City this weekend, striking reinforcements are set to follow.

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