Oumar Niasse proved Everton’s hero as he stepped off the bench to earn the Blues a come-from-behind win over Bournemouth.
Trailing to Joshua King’s second half strike, Toffees boss Ronald Koeman introduced the Senegalese striker soon after the Cherries had opened the scoring.
And he rifled home the leveller following a neat move he started, before bundling in the winner on 81 minutes.
Determined to build on Wednesday night’s confidence-boosting 3-0 victory against Sunderland in the Carabao Cup, manager Koeman stressed the need to show the same levels of aggression against a Bournemouth side that was also on an upward curve after two successive wins.
"You can talk, you can analyse but the best confidence for players is to have a win,” said the Blues’ boss.
“It is a boost what happened last Wednesday but it is a different team today, a better one, and we know how strong Bournemouth are. We need to be aggressive – that is the key to winning today."
Koeman made three changes to the side that started the last Premier League fixture against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
With Michael Keane and Phil Jagielka both unavailable through injury (CHECK), Mason Holgate partnered Ashley Williams in central defence as the Blues reverted to a flat back four.
Summer signing Davy Klaassen also returned in midfield, and striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who scored twice to cap a match-winning performance against Sunderland in midweek, was rewarded with a starting role upfront.
It took the lively Calvert-Lewin less than six minutes to threaten the Bournemouth goal for the first time.
After neat inter-play on the edge of the visitors’ penalty area, the ball was fed out to Leighton Baines, who was hugging the left-hand touchline.
The full-back promptly checked back onto his right foot and delivered an inviting cross into the area and Calvert-Lewin, who was lurking with intent just outside the six-yard box, rose high above his marker to direct a downward header goalwards but his effort crept a yard wide of Artur Boruc’s right-hand post.
Everton began to grow in confidence but for all their neat approach play, they struggled to find a way through a well-drilled Bournemouth defence.
Gylfi Sigurdsson appeared to have a strong claim for a penalty when he was bundled over by Dan Gosling but the referee, Martin Atkinson, deemed it a fair challenge.
The Blues then had an even bigger penalty call turned down in the 34th minute.
Wayne Rooney, who was making his 400th Premier League start, contested an aerial challenge with Simon Francis, which resulted in the Bournemouth captain catching the former England captain with a stray elbow.
Rooney immediately sank to the floor clutching his face, as blood gushed from a wound under his left eye, but despite Everton’s angry protests, Mr Atkinson ignored the penalty appeals.
Still, Everton kept pressing forward and they carved out another opportunity in the 40th minute.
Idrissa Gana Gueye and Sigurdsson traded passes on the edge of the area, before the latter slid a ball into Rooney, who was back on the pitch after receiving treatment.
However, as the striker shaped to shoot, he lost his footing at the crucial moment and his scuffed effort bobbled harmlessly wide of the near post.
Rooney was in the wars again just before half-time when he jumped to contest another aerial challenge, this time with Nathan Ake, and got nudged off balance in mid-air. After landing heavily, the Blues striker required further treatment to the eye injury sustained in the previous collision with Francis.
After rarely threatening Everton’s goal in the first half, Bournemouth emerged for the second half with renewed purpose and they struck a decisive blow in the 49th minute.
Charlie Daniels fed a pass through to Josh King on the left and the Cherries striker promptly cut inside and burst past Holgate, before arrowing a low shot into the bottom left corner of Jordan Pickford’s goal.
Things could have got worse for Everton two minutes later when King turned provider, his clever pass releasing Jermain Defoe, who was clear on goal. But thankfully Pickford was alert to the danger and denied the England striker, making a crucial save with his feet.
But on 55 minutes, Koeman would make a double substitution that would change the game completely. On came Tom Davies to inject some fresh energy into the Blues’ midfield, but more importantly, on came Niasse to boost the forward line.
And the pair combined to haul Everton level. Niasse won the ball back high up the pitch, it was neatly worked quickly around the box and when the Senegalese striker darted into the box, he was expertly picked out by Davies, allowing Niasse to hammer a fizzing effort past Begovic.
But Niasse was not done there. As the clock ticked into the final 10 minutes, Davies saw a shot deflected high into the air and towards the goalline - where the former Lokomotiv Moscow man was lurking to turn it over the line, sparking pandemonium around the Grand Old Lady.
“Oumar, Oumar, Oumar” reverberated around Goodison Park as, clearly buoyed by the turnaround, Everton set about seeing the game out. Calvert-Lewin almost grabbed a third but the Blues were home and dry.
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