Burnley 1-5 Everton: Lucas Digne scores twice as Toffees heap more pressure on Sean Dyche

Report and highlights as Everton respond emphatically to Spurs defeat

By Ben Grounds

Wednesday 26 December 2018 20:00, UK

Lucas Digne scored twice as Everton secured their first win in six Premier League games by thumping Burnley 5-1 at Turf Moor.

Marco Silva's side responded emphatically to their 6-2 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday, with Yerry Mina's header giving them the perfect start (3), before Digne stretched their lead with a fine free-kick (13).

Gylfi Sigurdsson made it 3-0 from the spot in the 22nd minute, after Ben Mee was adjudged to have handled inside the box, before Ben Gibson pulled a goal back for the hosts from close range eight minutes before half-time.

But Everton quelled the fightback and re-established their three-goal cushion in the 71st minute when the impressive Digne fired past Joe Hart from 25 yards - and there was still time for substitute Richarlison to add a fifth in stoppage time (90+3).

It is only the third time that Everton have scored five goals in an away Premier League game and the first time since a 5-2 win at Sheffield Wednesday in April 1996. The win moves the Toffees back up to eighth in the table, while Burnley remain 18th, three points adrift of safety.

Burnley did the double over Everton as they achieved a seventh-placed finish last season, but those days seem a long time ago now with pressure mounting on manager Sean Dyche.

His side went behind after more slack defending inside three minutes as Yerry Mina - on his return to the Everton side having missed the defeat to Tottenham - rose unmarked to head in Bernard's cross.

If the first goal was avoidable, there was very little Hart could do about Everton's second as, after Dominic Calvert-Lewin had been unceremoniously brought down by Jack Cork, Digne brilliantly lifted his 25-yard free-kick over the wall and beyond the fingertips of the former England goalkeeper.

Everton were clearly intent on making a statement three days after that Spurs humbling, but they were gifted the opportunity of stretching their lead when Mee inexplicably lifted his hand to take the ball off Mina's head just nine minutes later.

Referee Michael Oliver did not hesitate in pointing to the spot, and Sigurdsson - who had already missed two penalties this season against Fulham and Watford - sent Hart the wrong way to notch his ninth goal of the campaign.

Burnley were in need of a response before half-time and it duly arrived when Gibson, on his first Premier League start since joining from Middlesbrough last summer, directed the ball over the line from close range after Michael Keane had initially kept James Tarkowski's header out on the goal line.

But that was as good as it got for Burnley, as Digne's well-struck shot from Bernard's pass ended any hopes of a comeback, and Richarlison heaped more misery on Dyche with virtually the final kick of the game as he received Sigurdsson's pass to poke his shot low into the net beyond Hart.

The managers

Sean Dyche: "It was a very difficult afternoon for us. Mainly for the first half an hour of the game.

"After a poor start with the tempo of the game - they came out with a really hard tempo - and we didn't deal with that.
There were sloppy goals and sloppy moments. The big moment of the game from our point of view was Tarky [James Tarkowski]'s miss.

"If that goes in, they've just conceded six, it could've been a nervous time for them. But it didn't and the rest is how it shows in the scoreline."

Marco Silva: "It's football. When we win one match, always the face is different. I thought we deserved the three points. It was tough for us the last game, but the fans welcomed us before the game and that shows they believe in us.

"We started really well and we were really effective in those early moments. We scored early in the last game too and we kept focus with their direct football. Mentally, we prepared well to play this afternoon."

Opta stats

Burnley have already conceded 41 goals in the Premier League this season after 19 games, two more than they shipped in the whole of last season (39).
At one minute and 39 seconds, Yerry Mina's goal for Everton was the quickest Premier League goal on Boxing Day since 2014 when both Harry Kane and Adam Johnson both scored within the first minute.
Yerry Mina's opener (1m 39s) was the quickest Premier League goal by an Everton player since Tom Davies scored against Leicester after 30 seconds in April 2017.
Burnley goalkeeper Joe Hart has conceded 41 goals in 19 games in the Premier League this season; only in 2009-10 (42 in 36 games) did he ship more in a single campaign in the competition.
Gylfi Sigurdsson has scored 12 Premier League goals for Everton since the start of last season, more than any other player.
Richarlison has netted nine goals in 17 Premier League appearances this season with Everton, four more than he scored with Watford last season (five in 38 appearances).

Man of the match - Lucas Digne

Having seen their six-game unbeaten run at home come crashing to an end against Tottenham, a visit to Turf Moor might not have been classed as the ideal place for Everton to look for a response.

But in Digne, a player who is playing club football through the winter for the first time in his career, Everton had the touch of class needed to make a tough assignment a procession.

The former Barcelona full-back is developing a reputation as a set-piece specialist, and he not only added to his repertoire here, but showed his ability in open play with a fine second to end Burnley's hopes of recovery.

Five of the eight goals scored by Digne in Europe's big-five leagues have come from outside the box, including each of his three for the Toffees.