Burnley vs Everton: Toffees bounce back from Spurs rout to thrash hopeless Clarets

Burnley 1-5 Everton: Lucas Digne scored twice as Marco Silva’s side got back on track in their European pursuit

Everton’s fans had every reason to be apprehensive, three days after a 6-2 humiliation at home, travelling to Turf Moor with an unfamiliar defensive set-up and their most creative player dropped to the bench.

They should not have worried. No Richarlison in the starting line-up? No problem. Everton responded to their Tottenham embarrassment by taking out their frustrations on a Burnley side who played like strangers, and at times, defended like amateurs. Everton’s first win in six Premier League matches was Burnley’s ninth defeat in 11. This is not just a blip at Turf Moor now. This is a full-on crisis.

According to the official figures, around 16.5m people watched England beat Colombia in the last 16 at the World Cup in July, although it would appear that total did not include anyone at Burnley.

If they did see the game, it is odd that no one was alive to the possibility that Yerry Mina might score with a header, as he did three times in Russia, including against Gareth Southgate’s side nearly six months ago.

There were barely 100 seconds on the clock when Mina rose between Ben Gibson and Ben Mee to head in Bernard’s cross for his first goal since that night in Moscow, with Burnley failing to reorganise after dealing with the initial danger of a short corner worked by Theo Walcott for Lucas Digne to lift the ball in.

Burnley’s season has been a tough one, with a relatively small squad struggling to recover from a July start imposed on them by Europa League qualification. They had looked more back to their old selves in recent weeks, though, despite defeats at Tottenham and Arsenal, so to see them three goals down inside the game’s opening quarter was a severe shock.

The quality of the home side’s defending left plenty for their manager to grumble about. A slip by Charlie Taylor, under relatively little pressure, had brought about the corner that led to Mina’s opener, and a three-man back line was then pulled all over the place by Everton’s forward line.

The danger soon led to a second goal. Matt Lowton stopped Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s run by fouling him near the edge of the penalty area after a quick turn had lost James Tarkowski. That allowed Digne, whose free-kick prowess earned Everton a late point against Watford earlier this month, to score with a set-piece that floated over the wall and squeezed just inside Joe Hart’s near post.

Yerry Mina leaps highest the fires the ball into the back of the net (Action Images via Reuters)

It soon got worse for Burnley. Tarkowski, having given the ball away to Bernard, atoned for his error with a fine recovery challenge, but from the resulting corner, Mee handled under pressure from Mina. Gylfi Sigurdsson slotted in the resulting penalty, sending Hart the wrong way, and must have started to have thoughts of giving to Burnley what they had received from Tottenham three days earlier.

The home side did, at least, manage a response before half-time. Jordan Pickford got down to his left to push away an Ashley Barnes header from Ashley Westwood’s free-kick, and from the corner that followed, delivered by Taylor, Gibson marked his league debut for the club by turning in the loose ball from after Tarkowski’s header had been stopped by a combination of the goalkeeper and Michael Keane.

Everton players celebrate Lucas Digne's goal against Burnley (Getty)

Tarkowski stabbed over a fine chance from eight yards early in the second half, after Jeff Hendrick’s cross had caught Everton’s back three sleeping. Had that gone in, Burnley might have had a serious chance of testing their opponents’ confidence. As it was, a revival never looked likely from then on, and it was the visitors who threatened further goals amid more defensive disorganisation.

Calvert-Lewin narrowly failed to get on the end of a low Walcott cross after a quick exchange of passes opened up Burnley, Sigurdsson had a shot blocked by Taylor after a Bernard break, Keane headed over from a Digne corner. Walcott was denied by Hart at close range after Mee had completely missed the forward’s run.

Lucas Digne fires in his second goal of the game (Getty)

The fourth goal eventually came in the final 20 minutes. Burnley cleared a corner with some difficulty, Bernard fed the ball square to Digne, and the France full-back drove in from 25 yards.

There was still time for Richarlison to make a contribution; Sigurdsson slotted through, Mee fell over trying to intercept, and the Brazilian rolled the ball past Hart.