Swansea 1 Everton 2: Ross Barkley, the man Roberto Martínez has described as a "real English diamond", sparkled again as the Everton midfielder capped another hugely impressive performance at Swansea with an exquisite free-kick to seal a 2-1 victory and lift the Merseyside club into the top four.
Ahead through Seamus Coleman's superb strike, Everton were pegged back when Bryan Oviedo deflected Dwight Tiendalli's shot into his own net four minutes later.
Everton, however, had looked the more threatening team throughout and they got the win they deserved through a moment of brilliance from Barkley. Ben Davies brought down Romelu Lukaku and Barkley, sporting a grade one haircut, stepped up to sweep a curling 25-yard free-kick that struck the underside of bar before finding the back of the net. "We're gonna win the league," chanted the travelling supporters at the final whistle.
For two teams with managers schooled in the art of pass-and-move football, the opening 45 minutes had been a big disappointment. Swansea enjoyed marginally more possession but there was little tempo to their play and they rarely looked like troubling Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard.
Wayne Routledge's early shot was nearer to the corner flag than the goal while Wilfried Bony, running onto a reverse pass by the Swansea winger later in the half, thrashed over the bar left-footed.
Kevin Mirallas was at the centre of two of Everton's brighter moments in that period. If there was nothing wrong with the angled drive that drew a save from Gerhard Tremmel at the near post, there was plenty for Mirallas's team-mates to complain about when he opted to go it alone after Chico Flores carelessly gave away possession deep inside the Swansea half. With Steven Pienaar and Lukaku either side of him and hoping for a pass, Mirallas came inside on his right foot and saw his shot blocked by Ashley Williams.
Everton began to attack with more menace in the second half and ought to have broken the deadlock through Barkley in the 55th minute. A rapid breakaway started with Howard throwing the ball out to Oviedo, who fed Pienaar. With Barkley clear in the inside left channel, Pienaar played the England international through on goal but the midfielder lost his footing at the crucial time and the ball rolled harmlessly into the hands of Tremmel.
That was a moment to forget for Barkley but he showed his class moments later. After skipping away from Jonathan de Guzmán, Barkley drove at the heart of the Swansea defence, shifted the ball onto his left foot and drilled a superb shot from the edge of the penalty area that Tremmel pushed onto the bar and over. It was a fine save by the Swansea goalkeeper but he was beaten in spectacular style two minutes later, when Coleman thumped a swerving 30-yard shot inside the near post.
At that point Everton were playing with confidence and in control but, through a combination of poor defending and bad luck, the visitors conceded an equaliser in the 70th minute.
Davies’s deep cross from the left seemed fairly harmless but Pienaar allowed Tiendalli to get in front of him and the full back’s volley, which was heading wide, took a deflection off Oviedo and beat Howard. Barkley, however, ensured that Everton departed with three points.
(Guardian Service)
