Everything has changed at Everton bar one thing - and Burnley win proves it
The Joe Thomas match verdict after Everton beat Burnley 2-0 at Turf Moor to make it four straight wins and clean sheets in the Premier League
by Joe Thomas · Liverpool EchoEverything has changed at Everton bar one thing - and Burnley win proves it
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When Everton last visited Turf Moor, then Burnley manager Sean Dyche suggested the defeated Blues had lost the ability to win. This club certainly knows how to win now.
This victory over Burnley made it four consecutive league wins. It made it four away wins in a row. It made it 10 wins in 14 games in all competitions. Whatever data you think is the most important, from form guide to xG, the different metrics all tell the same story of sustained success.
Had Everton not been deducted 10 points the club would now be one point outside the European spots. They could be deducted another 10 points and still be just one win from safety.
READ MORE: Everton player ratings as Michael Keane and three others superb in Burnley win
That deflating night in east Lancashire back in April 2021 feels a long, long time ago. Part of that is testament to the work Dyche has done to solve the problem he identified back then.
How far Everton have come can be measured in many ways. One of the most satisfying is the reaction to the team news that showed a makeshift side that would have to adapt to a new formation after being decimated by injury and suspension. Such news would have been met with fear and trepidation at any other point of the last few two and a half years. For a travelling fanbase that has not tasted defeat outside of Merseyside since August, the attitude instead appeared to be: 'Well, this could be fun.' It was.
The reaction of the players who came into the side was also telling of how much has changed at Finch Farm and Goodison Park. A calf issue cost Amadou Onana five weeks of this season. When he was needed to replace a flagging Idrissa Gueye at half-time against Chelsea, he responded with a performance of maturity that helped his side close out a valuable win. With Gueye suspended he started at Burnley and while it was his towering back-post header that gave his side the lead, more impressive was that he followed it up with a perfectly-timed lunge on the edge of his area moments after the restart to stop Vitinho and protect the advantage he had provided.
Michael Keane, meanwhile, has spent much of this season on the sidelines. After starting the campaign alongside James Tarkowski, he found himself replaced by Jarrad Branthwaite following the thrashing at Aston Villa - that last occasion the Blues lost at a ground that did not have a Liverpool postcode. Just two substitute appearances have followed in the league and yet, when Dyche needed him, he answered the call. Keane was ruled out of the matchday squad against Chelsea six days ago due to a knock. He did not resume training until midweek and there were still questions over his fitness as Dyche answered questions ahead of this match in his pre-game press conference.
With Branthwaite suspended, Keane battled through any pain to not just help Everton keep a clean sheet - a fourth in a row - but to show his finishing prowess once again. His half-volley on the turn from a Tarkowski knock-down was vicious and all Burnley keeper James Trafford could do was to push it out into his own box. When it deflected back into Keane’s path he doubled the lead with a finish as composed as his first effort had been powerful.
The same story of resilience and concentration can be written of Ben Godfrey. The withdrawal of Vitalii Mykolenko led to him receiving his first league start of the campaign. In a five-man defence with Dwight McNeil at left-wing back and Nathan Patterson on the other side - the fourth change to the team that beat Chelsea due to Ashley Young’s injury - Godfrey joined Tarkowski and Keane in the middle. And in first-half stoppage time Godfrey sliced clear a ball across the face of goal that was certain to be tapped in by the waiting Zeki Amdouni.
Onana, Keane and Godfrey were just three cogs in the Royal Blue machine that overcame the team that might be the most dangerous of the three currently in the relegation zone with ease. If Burnley are that, then for the second time in two months the Blues have seen nothing to suggest they should be worried. Everton cruised to victory here. Two-nil up after 25 minutes, the game was won before the half hour. In the second half, Amdouni forced Jordan Pickford into a fingertip save and Sander Berge rattled the bar - it would have likely been ruled out for offside - but both were efforts from distance as the hosts were kept to speculative attempts.
As a result, In a game Burnley simply had to win, the Blues snatched another three points with a makeshift team that overcame plenty of adversity to land another blow on those hoping their sustained, impressive form is no more than a blip. A lot has changed in a short time at Everton. The default setting of Dyche’s team is now winning.
That is a deserved reward for one important factor that has not changed over this period. This away fan base had misery after misery inflicted upon it across two wretched seasons on the road. Now those supporters are travelling with expectation not just of a win, but of also having a good time while they do it. They did that at Turf Moor as they protested the points deduction with hundreds of anti-Premier League placards and provided the soundtrack to a match during which the only clear noise was Spirit of the Blues and, of course, “We shall not be moved.”
By the end, the singing turned festive as thousands joined to chant a song that has felt like a distant dream across two previous seasons that spawned a combined four league away wins. Everton have now won five so far this season so it is only fitting to hear. “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to see Everton win away.”
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