EVERTON have withdrawn their appeal against a two-point deduction for breaching spending rules after comfortably cementing their top-flight status.

The Toffees announced this afternoon that they had decided not to go ahead with a scheduled hearing to contest the punishment handed down by an independent regulatory commission last month, after they had admitted a second breach of the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

A statement on the club’s official X — formerly Twitter — account said: “Everton Football Club has withdrawn its appeal of the decision by a Premier League independent commission to impose a two-point deduction on the club for a breach of the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules for the accounting period ending in June 2023.

“A hearing scheduled for later this month will now not proceed and the club will conclude the 2023-24 Premier League season with the two-point deduction remaining in place.”

The fresh punishment was imposed after the club failed to comply with PSR during the three-year cycle to 2022-23, and came after they had already been deducted six points for similar reasons for the period to 2021-22.

It left them sitting in 16th place, just two points clear of the relegation zone and in severe danger of dropping into the second tier.

However, Sean Dyche’s team will head into their penultimate fixture, on Saturday’s clash with relegated Sheffield United, in 15th on 37 points, 11 clear of the bottom three and with their survival assured.