[Sport] Everton 1-0 Southampton: Richarlison strike extends Saints' slump

[-Kenzo]

Park to move to within two points of top four; Richarlison scores for third game running as Toffees move level on points with

Liverpool and condemn Southampton to eighth Premier League defeat in nine

Richarlison's early strike was enough to guide Everton to only their sixth home win of the season as Southampton's alarming slump continued with a 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park.

Everton took the lead inside the opening 10 minutes as Richarlison continued his rich recent vein of form in front of goal with his third goal in three games.

Southampton left it late to muster any kind of response but could have snatched a point had Moussa Djenepo not blazed wide, or had Jannik Vestergaard managed to bundle the Saints' first attempt on target past Jordan Pickford in the final minute.

But Everton held on to secure back-to-back league wins for the first time since Boxing Day as Carlo Ancelotti's side ended a three-game home losing streak to move level on points with Liverpool and to within two points of the top four.

For Ralph Hasenhuttl and Southampton, their table-topping early-season form is a distant memory after succumbing to an eighth Premier League defeat in nine which leaves them 14th, seven clear of the relegation zone and looking over their shoulders.

Player ratings
Everton: Pickford (8), Godfrey (7), Holgate (6), Digne (6), Keane (6), Allan (7), Gomes (7), Doucoure (6), Sigurdsson (7), Richarlison (7), Calvert-Lewin (7).

Subs: King (n/a), Iwobi (n/a).

Southampton: Forster (6), Bertrand (6), Salisu (5), Bednarek (6), Vestergaard (7), Ward-Prowse (7), Djenepo (7), Armstrong (7), Redmond (6), Adams (6), Ings (6).

Subs: Tella (6), N'Lundulu (n/a), Watts (n/a)
 

Everton came into the game on the high of last Sunday's long-awaited victory at Anfield and having not lost at home to Southampton in the Premier League since 1997, and they needed just nine minutes to take the lead.

Gylfi Sigurdsson exploited space vacated by Mohammed Salisu after he came off second best in an aerial duel with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, sliding a pass forward for Richarlison who rounded the on-rushing Fraser Forster before finding the net for the third straight game.