Everton have now lost four Premier League games in a row after falling to a 1-0 defeat at Burnley.
The hosts started the brighter and came closest in the first half when Jeff Hendrick was left unmarked at the back post from a corner. He diverted the ball towards goal, but Jordan Pickford stuck out a leg to send the ball to safety.
Alex Iwobi had the best chance of the half for The Blues as a weak Gylfi Sigurdsson effort fell to the feet of the Nigerian in the area, who swivelled and poked an effort towards goal, but Matt Lowton blocked it with a timely intervention.
Everton were then reduced to 10-men in the 55th minute after Seamus Coleman clumsily barged into Dwight McNeil to earn a deserved second yellow card after a mistimed stamp on Erik Pieters in the first.
The pressure soon told as Burnley took the lead in the 72nd minute as Hendrick once again found himself all alone at the far post to volley home a McNeil corner past the hapless Pickford.
Jay Rodriguez could have doubled The Clarets lead soon after, but his right-footed effort from the edge of the box lacked power.
Michael Keane saw a header trickle wide late on against his former club in Everton’s only real chance to level the scores.
Marco Silva’s team now find themselves 17th in the league, with the potential to fall into the bottom three if Newcastle beat Manchester United on Sunday.
The pressure will be mounting on Silva as the Toffees have now lost five of their last six league games.
The Portuguese manager will be hoping his Everton side can put their recent form behind them as they welcome West Ham to Goodison Park in two weeks time.
(James Hargreaves Stand – Pic by Jameboy under Creative Commons License)
