Everton end home campaign having restored Fortress Goodison

Everton 2 - 0 Burnley

At the nadir of the season back in January following the FA cup defeat at Millwall, the defensive run that Everton have been on, particularly at home, since early February would have been inconceivable.

Marco Silva’s defence was an absolute shambles at the Den and though they managed a clean sheet at the one ground where they would have been expected to do so when they beat Huddersfield 1-0 at the John Smiths a few days later, the 3-1 home defeat to Wolves deepened the sense of deja vu among supporters for whom the collapse of Roberto Martinez’s reign is still fresh in the memory.

Since losing to Manchester City in the game after that, Everton have kept eight clean sheets in 11 games, haven’t conceded a first-half goal in that span — you have to go back to the title-winning season of 1986-87 for the last time a Toffees side managed that feat — and haven’t let in a goal at all at Goodison Park.

Amid that run, the defeats at Newcastle and Fulham stand as curious and unwanted anomalies, but in the context of Silva’s recovery from what was a very low point in the season and the future under the Portuguese, they offer examples of where to improve because the foundations appear to otherwise be in place.

Goodison Park has indeed become a fortress again and this was a pleasingly routine win even if it left you feeling a little unfulfilled at the way Everton eased off the pedal in the second half. Perhaps there was a certain confidence bred from their recent home form or from the fact that in the opening 10 minutes, the Blues registered over 90% of the possession and were 2-0 up with 20 minutes gone. Silva’s side were wholly dominant in the first 45 minutes and didn’t allow Burnley to have their one and only shot on target of the match until more than an hour had elapsed.

That early pressure yielded a series of set-pieces and one chance for Richarlison when he was threaded through beautifully by Gylfi Sigurdsson but his shot deflected behind for corner. It wasn’t long, however, before the same combination yielded the first goal.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin was set down the right touchline by Richarlison himself from deep in his own half and the Brazilian would then make up the ground to be in place outside the box to receive Sigurdsson’s lay-off after the striker had drifted inside with the ball and found the Icelandic midfielder.

Richarlison took a couple of touches to set himself up and then lashed a 25-yard shot towards goal that took a slight but decisive deflection off Ben Mee and flew into the bottom corner of Tom Heaton’s goal. Mee would, unfortunately, be credited with the goal because the effort looked to be going just wide but it was a tremendous strike and the goal was everything Everton deserved.

And they didn’t have to wait long for the second which came the end of a sustained attack during which Calvert-Lewin and Lucas Digne both had shots blocked before the Frenchman smashed one of his Exocet missiles from distance Heaton could only palm into the path of Seamus Coleman alone in the box to head home.

Ashley Barnes had a well-taken volleyed ”goal” ruled out for offside at the end of a rare Burnley attack before Lee Westwood was booked for a reckless tackle on Morgan Schneiderlin but it was Everton who finished the first half the stronger with Calvert-Lewin putting a header over the bar into the Gwladys Street End and Sigurdsson firing over from a tight angle when he might have been better served slipping it square for Calvert-Lewin to convert from close range.

The second half was much more of a non-event and it was mostly consumed with Burnley trying in vain to make inroads in the Everton defence where Michael Keane and Kurt Zouma were like impregnable rocks. On another day, Keane might have conceded a penalty when he appeared to put his arm on the back of Matej Vydra and his feet accidentally tangled with the substitute’s, sending him sprawling to the turf but the officials waved play on. And Aron Gudmundsson almost got on the end of a deep Barnes cross at the back post but couldn’t keep the ball down as it skipped off the turf in front of Jordan Pickford’s goal.

In between, Richarlison was forced off with a recurrence of the rib injury that he initially sustained at Fulham and which necessitated his substitution around the same time of the game as against Manchester United. It was a shame because the Brazilian, who is been fairly inconsistent over the past few months, had been having one of his most effective games of the season.

He has been guilty at times of being too selfish, over elaborating in the final third or simply running into trouble but this evening he was alert, productive and responsible for some very intelligent balls in various areas of the pitch.

Still very much in control in the destination of the points, with Morgan Schneiderlin continuing to look like a player reborn, the home side didn’t threaten as often as they had in the first half but they did create some decent openings nonetheless.

Calvert-Lewin had time to size up a shot as the ball came out to him around the edge of the box but he swept his shot high into the Park End, Coleman saw an attempt to chip the ball across Heaton’s six-yard box foiled by the keeper when a low cut-back might have found one of four blue shirts queuing up to tap in and Digne then sent Calvert-Lewin in with a nice pass but the striker produced a weak effort that was comfortably saved.

Bernard’s industrious but mercurial evening’s work came to end when he was withdrawn with 17 minutes to go in favour of Ademola Lookman and the young forward wasted little time displaying his obvious talent. Cutting back on a run across the edge of the box, he whipped a left-footed shot that clipped the crossbar when it deserved to dip a few inches lower.

Lookman would get a simpler chance after Theo Walcott had squandered another good opening with just Heaton to beat when the ball rebounded to him around 15 yards out but his powder-puff effort failed to unduly test the keeper.

There was enough time at the end to give Phil Jagielka a couple of minutes of stoppage time to come on for what could be the final appearance of his long and impressive Everton career before referee Chris Kavanagh called time on another home win for the Toffees.

So, three points that put the ball back in Wolves’s court as they entertain Fulham tomorrow knowing that a win would put them beyond Everton’s reach and guarantee that only Leicester could deny them a seventh place finish in their first season back in the Premier League.

Regardless of where Silva’s team finish, though, there are clear signs of progress now under the Portuguese. Replacing the likes of Idrissa Gueye and Zouma, for instance, two players who were again outstanding tonight, would be very, very difficult if it comes to that but there is, at least, confidence and defensive solidity about the squad as a whole not to mention an identity and evidence of an outfit capable of far out-performing their efforts this season next term.

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