Everton boosted their hopes of qualifying for Europe as they beat Burnley to earn a first home win in the Premier League for nearly three months.
Defender James Tarkowski opened the scoring with a thumping header in the 32nd minute, before Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall added a second on the hour mark with a delicate dink over Martin Dubravka.
The Blues – who last celebrated a win at Hill Dickinson Stadium on 6 December – defeated the relegation-threatened Clarets to move within a point of seventh-placed Brentford.
It was the 18th defeat of the Premier League season for Burnley, leaving them eight points from safety with nine games remaining.
After a low-key opening 32 minutes on Merseyside, Tarkowski broke the deadlock against his former club when he climbed highest to power home James Garner’s in-swinging set-piece from close range.
It was the first time the England international had been on the scoresheet since his stunning, last-gasp equaliser in the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park 13 months ago.
The home side nearly doubled the lead in stoppage time when Jarrad Branthwaite’s header was saved by Dubravka after another delightful free-kick delivery from Garner.
Everton started the second half brightly and had a second within 15 minutes as Iliman Ndiaye – who had seen an effort ruled out for offside a couple of minutes earlier – slipped the ball through for Dewsbury-Hall to net his sixth Premier League goal of the season.
Idrissa Gueye came close to adding a third in the final 20 minutes but his curling effort from outside the box smashed the top of the crossbar.
After scoring three times in defeat against Brentford on Saturday, it took the visitors – who were without top scorer Zian Flemming – until the 79th minute to muster a shot on target.
