Big Match Recap: Everton 1-0 Burnley
Report, reaction, stats and player ratings.
Big Match Recap is brought to you in conjunction with Sofascore. Get the live results, ratings, and detailed stats that make a difference.
Everton snapped their long winless run as Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s fluke goal sealed a 1-0 victory over Burnley.
The Toffees went into Saturday’s clash with the Clarets — who were unbeaten in four games — without a Premier League win since mid-December; that victory having come over Burnley at Turf Moor.
While far from hitting anything resembling a decent performance, though, Everton got the job done thanks to Calvert-Lewin’s second goal in as many games, which arrived in bizarre fashion on the stroke of half-time.
Having dallied over making a clearance, Arijanet Muric saw his eventual punt deflect off Calvert-Lewin and loop over his head, into the back of the net.
Calvert-Lewin has now scored twice in as many matches, having previously gone on a 23-game scoreless run.
Dara O’Shea’s red card midway through the second half further compounded Burnley’s misery, though Everton — who missed multiple decent openings and were perhaps unfortunate not to win a penalty when substitute Beto took a tumble late on — ultimately had to hang on somewhat to get the job done.
The victory took the Toffees into 15th, above Brentford and onto 29 points, though they are expected to be hit with a second points deduction in the coming days.
Burnley, meanwhile, sit 19th, six points from safety.
MTAG’S PLAYER RATINGS
Everton: Jordan Pickford 7; Seamus Coleman 6, James Tarkowski 7, Jarrad Branthwaite 8, Vitaliy Mykolenko 6; Ashley Young 6, James Garner 6, Andre Gomes 7, Dwight McNeil 6; Abdoluaye Doucoure 6; Dominic Calvert-Lewin 7.
Subs: Beto 6, Jack Harrison 6.
Burn: Arijanet Muric 5; Lorenz Assignon 6, Dara O’Shea 5, Maxime Esteve 6, Charlie Taylor 6; Wilson Odobert 5, Josh Cullen 6, Sander Berge 6, Jacob Bruun Larsen 6; Lyle Foster 6, David Datro Fofana 6.
Subs: Johann Gudmundsson 6, Josh Brownhill 6, Vitinho 5, Zeki Amdouni 5, Jay Rodriguez 5.
SOFASCORE PICK: DOMINIC CALVERT-LEWIN
While Branthwaite was particularly impressive at the back for Everton, Sofascore went with Calvert-Lewin for their player of the match, with an 8.2 rating.
As well as scoring the only goal, the striker also had three shots and completed two of his three dribbles, while winning 12 of his 21 duels.
QUICK QUOTES
Sean Dyche speaking to BBC Sport
"We worked the opposition. They had a lad sent off, we should have had a penalty [for a foul on James Garner]. We worked very hard to see the game out.
"Strikers sometimes need an ugly goal – it wasn't ugly but [Calvert-Lewin] did very well to close down the goalkeeper. He went close in a similar situation a few moments before. He has two [goals] in two [games] now and it feels different for him.
"If you look at the season so far, it is what it is. I can only control the controllable. A lot of effort was put in by a lot of people today.
"We have got to capitalise on [the win] and step forward."
MATCH STATS
