Everton 3-0 Nottingham Forest
by James Nalton 
at Bramley-Moore Dock

A CONVINCING Everton win against Nottingham Forest on Saturday took them just a point off the top four, showing the value of consecutive wins in a tightly packed Premier League table.

It came on the back of a win at Bournemouth on Tuesday, leaving manager David Moyes talking tentatively about European qualification.

“There’s a number you have to get in the Premier League to get away from the bottom of the table, and we’ve not reached it yet,” said Moyes.

“But I don’t want to come here and be negative. I want to be positive, and we want to try and get close to Europe.

“We’re not a side yet that are going to continually win games, but I have to say we’re making good progress at trying to.”

Saturday’s action kicked off quickly as Nicola Savona was booked for a foul on Jack Grealish after just 24 seconds.

Exactly a minute later, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s shot deflected in off Nikola Milenkovic to put Everton 1-0 up.

There was a lack of action for much of the rest of the first half, which suited the home team.

Everton weren’t exactly under the cosh once going ahead, and weren’t sitting back and holding on to the single-goal advantage.

Few Everton goals this season have been celebrated as enthusiastically as their second.

There had been similar cheers when Thierno Barry found the net in the disappointing defeat to Newcastle here last weekend, but additional disappointment followed then as it was ruled out for handball.

This time, there was no doubt as to the validity of Barry’s goal. Ilimian Ndiaye won the ball in his own half and drove into opposition territory. Everton, somehow, found themselves with a three-on-one just before halftime.

It was the kind of situation previous versions of Everton might mess up.

With Barry having not yet scored for the club and having missed some chances to do so, Ndiaye might have been tempted to instead feed Charly Alcaraz to his right, but Barry was the choice, and he didn’t let Everton down, slotting into the corner past Matz Sels.

Barry received a standing ovation as he was subbed off for Beto with an hour gone, with Everton fans recognising that these strikers need confidence and support if they’re to continue finding the net.

James Tarkowski made some key interventions at the other end, blocking a Neco Williams shot and clearing a close-range Nicolas Dominguez effort off the line.

Rather than sit back, Everton pushed for a third, and the approach worked. Dewsbury-Hall, impressive throughout once again, this time in a slightly deeper role, hit the post from a Grealish setup, before Ndiaye forced Sels into a good save.

Dewsbury-Hall then got the goal his performance deserved. Sels couldn’t get much on a James Garner corner, and Jake O’Brien prodded the ball in the direction of his teammate, who applied the finish to take Everton to fifth in the table at the close of play on Saturday.