Everton edged out Southampton to record their first home league win of 2021.
Richarlison’s early first-half strike settled the game when he received Gylfi Sigurdsson’s threaded pass before rounding Fraser Forster and slotting home.
The result sees Carlo Ancelotti’s side draw level on points with Liverpool as both clubs remain within touching distance of a Champions League place.
Here were the key talking points from Goodison Park:
Blues find home comforts again
Home has not exactly been where the heart is for Everton in recent months.
Since a hard-fought display against Arsenal before Christmas, Goodison Park has not been able to toast a Premier League win in five successive attempts.
Losing to teams of Manchester City and a top four-chasing West Ham’s quality is understandable but far lesser sides than the Blues have also prospered.
Southampton were intent on following their fellow strugglers Newcastle and Fulham in pulling off another unlikely and rare victory at the Grand Old Lady.
Yet Carlo Ancelotti’s side took an early lead and were forced to consolidate it for another 84 minutes after VAR overruled Michael Keane’s follow-up effort.
Games such as this are usually seen as defining for teams with ambitions of reaching European qualification, in whatever form that ultimately takes.
Whether or not Everton are still in the top four conversation come the end of this season only time will tell – but this was a clear step in the right direction.
Richarlison heading for ’20 club’
Ancelotti made no secret of the expectations for Everton’s strikers this term.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison were set the target of scoring 20 goals apiece or, in their manager’s own words, ‘they will have a problem with me’.
While Calvert-Lewin excelled in aiming for hit the magical number, with 18 in all competitions to date, his Brazilian counterpart still appeared some way off.
After finding the target in the last three games, however, Richarlison again appears on course to join his striking cohort in reaching Ancelotti’s ’20 club’.
His strike which separated the teams was a carbon copy of his Anfield opener; pouncing on another through ball, this time plated up by Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Richarlison’s stop-start season in front of goal appears to be sparking into life again and just at the right time and with no fewer than 13 games remaining.
Has Pickford turned a corner?
Ordinarily, Jordan Pickford keeping consecutive clean sheets in games where he appeared largely untroubled would not be a huge a cause for celebration.
The England international is often scrutinised at his busiest, when attempting to repel shots peppered on his goal invariably leads to a high-profile blunder.
But Pickford demonstrated against Southampton that his starring role in Everton’s long-awaited end to their Merseyside derby hoodoo was no fluke.
Either side of brilliantly denying Jannik Vestergaard from point-blank range in stoppage time, he produced decisive vital punches under growing pressure.
More than that, though, the 26-year-old’s distribution was also excellent and in particular a long ball which set in motion Richarlison’s ninth-minute opener.
Whisper it, but Pickford might have finally turned a corner as Everton’s no.1.
Big Sam can make good on Euro vow
The irony that Sam Allardyce could help Everton realise their quest for a Champions League qualification spot will not be lost on many supporters.
It is fair to say their respective paths have moved in different directions since he was jettisoned just six months into an 18-month contract at Goodison.
Thursday’s trip to West Brom sees Allardyce again scrapping for top-flight survival while his one-time employers have the top four firmly in their sights.
Three points at the Hawthorns would see Ancelotti’s players leapfrogging fellow hopefuls Liverpool and Chelsea an hour before they face each other.
Both teams potentially cancelling each other out at Anfield coupled with West Ham’s four-day wait for a game means Everton could assume the box seat.
Allardyce often hypothesises about how he would have steered his old club into Europe. As Baggies manager, he could finally make good on that theory.