By Press Association
Norwich hauled themselves off the bottom of the Premier League table with their first away win of the season to pile the pressure back on Everton manager Marco Silva.
After a goalless 10 hours and 20 minutes on the road, Todd Cantwell’s first strike since the Canaries’ last league success – at home to Manchester City in September – and an added-time effort from Dennis Srbeny, secured a 2-0 victory.
It lifted Daniel Farke’s side to within a point of escaping the bottom three and left Everton just four points above the relegation zone after a sixth defeat in nine league games.
So, while Norwich are looking up, Silva is looking over his shoulder as seven of their next nine matches are against tough opponents in second-placed Leicester (twice), Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City.
It is the month from hell for Silva but Saturday afternoon was not much fun either as Everton’s lack of ambition against a team who had taken one point from their last seven matches, cost them dearly.
The international break came at the wrong time for the Toffees as the lay-off negated any boost from the win at Southampton but Silva kept faith with the same team.
But instead of going for the jugular against the Premier League’s bottom side, without a win in two months and after collecting just one point and one goal in six away matches, they were sluggish in their approach.
In fact, the visitors looked more threatening as they were content to get the ball forward quickly with Onel Hernandez posing the only real threat with his driving runs.
Having tested Jordan Pickford from the edge of the penalty area early on, he forced the England international into a good low save after countering from an Everton corner.
But none of his team-mates were close to being on the Cuban’s wavelength and most of Norwich’s attempts were deflected shots from distance.
While Hernandez was causing problems for right-back Djibril Sidibe, only once in the first half did Richarlison get a run at the Norwich defence and – when he did – Christoph Zimmermann, on his first appearance since August because of injury, took a booking to avoid being beaten in a sprint.
The weak half-time booing was followed by greater consternation when Teemu Pukki muscled Mason Holgate off the ball, but his dithering betrayed his lack of confidence – having not scored a league goal since September’s surprise win over Manchester City – and the chance was lost.
Holgate’s failure to deal with Kenny McLean proved more costly in the 54th minute as Pukki picked up the loose ball and his pass took Holgate and Yerry Mina out of the game as the onrushing Cantwell beat Pickford at his near post.
Everton’s handball shouts against Alexander Tettey were optimistic but Sam Byram’s free header wide criminally failed to double the visitors’ lead.
Gylfi Sigurddson and Cenk Tosun were both denied by low saves from Tim Krul but they were the best chances in the final 20 minutes as Norwich defended resolutely with Everton running out of ideas.
Their misery was compounded when Sigurddson’s miscontrol played the ball straight to Srbeny who did not miss from close range.
The goal sparked a mass exit from Goodison Park and to add insult to injury, Everton fans joined in a chorus of “sacked in the morning” by the visiting supporters.
