52 min: Everton are comfortable but are lacking the zip they had in the opening stages. Maybe it is just that Burnley have just pulled their finger out. It is bucketing it down now at Goodison.
50 min: A brilliant bit of covering by Schneiderlin prevents Robbie Brady from having a tap-in! Burnley jet forward down the right, sucking Everton’s defence in and ghosting into pockets of space and end up sliding an inviting ball across goal. Almost.
49 min: Theo Walcott replaces Richarlison, who is in some discomfort. It looks to be that pesky rib injury again for the Brazilian. Coleman and Schneiderlin try to console the forward as he departs the pitch shaking his head. He’s frustrated.
47 min: Heaton gathers a Michael Keane header! Lucas Digne swivels away from the challenge after playing a short corner with Bernard. The ball is floated in to the back post, where Keane is lurking. The defender is hungrier than anyone else in the box and nods at goal. But his effort lacks conviction and Heaton collects.
46 min: Gudmundsson lashes wide from 25 yards! Tom Heaton thuds a free-kick forward from halfway, Tarkowski knocks it down and the Burnley midfielder reads it perfectly. He hits it sweetly – but is always arching away from Jordan Pickford’s goal.
46 min: Burnley get us back under way at Goodison.
Across Merseyside …
Some essential half-time reading:
It has been plain-sailing for Marco Silva’s side.
45+1 min: Westwood pressures Idrissa Gueye on the edge of the Everton box but the Burnley man is a little keen, snapping at the heels of the midfielder. Everton whack the ball clear.
45 min: There will be one added minute.
43 min: Sigurdsson drives over from an acute angle! Bernard skated down the left before shaping to shoot, and then promptly fooling the Burnley defence by sliding in Sigurdsson. He races on to it, takes a touch and blasts at goal but in the end it is high and wide.
41 min: Marco Silva has his hands folded and looks rather agitated about something but, despite a sluggish few minutes, his side are still cruising. Calvert-Lewin has been quiet barring the odd touch.
39 min: “If Ben Mee has scored four own goals that’s as many as Karlan Grant has scored at the right end for Huddersfield, and he’s their top scorer,” points out Phil Grey on email. “Ouch.” Back at Goodison, Everton are just trying to reinstate their authority after ceding a bit of territory over the past few minutes.
37 min: Burnley pass up a decent chance! Robbie Brady eludes his marker, nodding Westwood’s free-kick wide unmarked. It all came from a free-kick after Schneiderlin, seconds after surviving that crude challenge by Westwood, is penalised for a high boot.
35 min: More woe for Westwood, who is booked after throwing himself into a nasty – filthy – challenge on Morgan Schneiderlin. The evidence of his dirty work is rather compelling, too, with the Burnley midfielder’s studs leaving a lasting mark on the top of Schneiderlin’s left leg. His boot raked across his thigh.
33 min: Ashley Barnes has the ball in the net ! … but the flag is up. Robbie Brady dinks a smart cross into the back post, where Digne has gone to sleep but Barnes strays offside. It was a beautiful cushioned finish at the back stick, but it will count for nothing.
30 min: Burnley try to break on halfway but Morgan Schneiderlin hoovers up. It is great to see Schneiderlin beginning to get back to near his best after a few years in the wilderness at Old Trafford.
28 min: Burnley manage to clear after the ball almost drops kindly for Kurt Zouma. It has been one-way traffic.
27 min: Richarlison buys a corner out of Tarkowski.
25 min: Gudmundsson nips down the right after a clever reverse pass by Ashley Barnes. He looks up and spots Chris Wood in the box but Michael Keane, the former Burnley defender, gets across to clear his lines. It is probably an exaggeration to even say the Burnley front two have been feeding off scraps.
22 min: Bad news for Richarlison … the first Everton goal has been officially awarded to Ben Mee. His fourth own goal of the season.
21 min: Burnley have been unable to live with Everton, who really are rampant. They could end up with five or six at this rate.
Lucas Digne unleashes a rocket from 25 yards, catching Tom Heaton cold. Flummoxed in the Burnley goal, he claws the ball into the path of Séamus Coleman, who gleefully nods in the rebound.
It was started and finished by Richarlison, who freed Calvert-Lewin down the right before drifting inside. The Brazilian fires goalwards left-footed from 20 yards, via Ben Mee, but nevertheless he wheels away to celebrate his 14th goal of the season. It was a thumping effort; it cannoned off Mee and zoomed into the corner of Tom Heaton’s goal. One for the dubious goals panel.
15 min: Burnley throw in a free-kick from the right, but Wood is offside. Jordan Pickford, as you’d expect, has been a spectator.
13 min: Back come Everton, storming forward down the left through Bernard, who slides in Idrissa Gueye. He should find Sigurdsson, who ghosts into space inside the box but Mee ably holds him up. When the ball does come, it is too late and Sigurdsson is crowded out.
12 min: Some respite for Burnley, as Jack Cork wins a free-kick on halfway. Everton had been throwing bodies forward.
9 min: Richarlison lofts over from 25 yards! It comes after another slick Everton move upfield. Bernard slides a gorgeous ball through for Calvert-Lewin, who attempts to keep the ball alive with a deft flick but Matt Lowton cleared before Everton recycled possession.
7 min: Burnley are yet to have a sniff. The only thing the travelling supporters have been able to get remotely excited about so far was a long punt downfield by Tom Heaton. But even that culminated in Chris Wood being penalised for handball.
5 min: Richarlison plays a neat give-and-go with Sigurdsson, the latter slipping in the Brazilian inside the box. Richarlison rattles an effort at goal but Charlie Taylor claws back at his man, diverting his strike into the path of Mee, who is powerless to concede a corner. That comes to nothing but plenty of encouragement for Everton.
4 min: Everton are camped inside the Burnley half. They have flown out of the traps.
2 min: Sigurdsson spins off to the far post at a corner, peeling off his man to volley at goal. It is not the cleanest strike – his effort thuds into the ground, bouncing up into the air where it is met by three Burnley bodies. A promising start by Everton.
1 min: Chris Wood, of all people, hooks the ball away inside the Burnley box as Everton pile on some early pressure. A couple of neat Everton triangles play Burnley into trouble, with Wood initially failing to hold up Ben Mee’s pass out from the back.
And we’re under way at Goodison Park.
The Z Cars siren has sounded. Kick-off is imminent …
There was uproar in places when Everton fluttered £50m at Watford for Richarlison – but the 21-year-old forward has proved a brilliant, if not shrewd, signing since reuniting with Marco Silva. With 13 goals to his name this season, only two Brazilians have ever scored more than Richarlison in a single Premier League campaign; Roberto Firmino in 2017-18 (15) and Robinho in 2008-09 (14).
Some mundane pre-match soundbites. “Everything we have done for the past two months, the good feelings we have given our fans, it is important to keep doing the same and to finish well at home and get a good result for them,” says Marco Silva. “Everyone is working really hard.” Michael Keane adds: “We have seven clean sheets in nine and we want to keep that going.”
Did anyone else totally forget about Jermaine Beckford’s sojourn at Everton? Now at Bury, the 35-year-old spent 2010-11 at Goodison Park, joining on a free transfer after leaving Leeds United.
Some pre-match stats to get stuck into: Everton have kept seven clean sheets in their last nine Premier League games – one more than they had in their previous 29 in the competition. And the omens are equally good for Burnley; apart from Bournemouth, Sean Dyche has won more Premier League games against Everton (three) than he has against any other side.
Everton have unveiled a statue to three of their finest outside Goodison pre-match: Alan Ball, Howard Kendall and Colin Harvey.
Team news news: Everton are unchanged, though Theo Walcott may pop up off the bench, returning among the substitutes following illness. Sean Dyche tweaks personnel, with Robbie Brady restored to the starting lineup, as is Johann Berg Gudmundsson. Jeff Hendrick and Dwight McNeil, who has looked mustard since Christmas, drop out. Peter Crouch is among the substitutes. Yerry Mina remains absent for Everton. Signed for £28m last summer, the towering Colombia defender, who returned to full training this week, has proved something of a flop this season, making just a handful of starts in between two prolonged periods out injured.
Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Coleman, Zouma, Keane, Digne; Schneiderlin, Gueye; Richarlison, Sigurdsson, Bernard; Calvert-Lewin
Subs: Stekelenburg, Baines, Jagielka, Davies, Walcott, Tosun, Lookman
Burnley (4-4-2): Heaton; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Gudmundsson, Westwood, Cork, Brady; Barnes, Wood
Subs: Hart, Vydra, Gibson, Long, Hendrick, McNeil, Crouch
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
This one may be a tough sell but, for Everton, it is their penultimate chance to stake their claim for seventh. Marco Silva’s side have fared better against the Premier League’s elite – beating Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in their three previous home matches – but have come unstuck against so-called lesser opposition. Can Everton strike the right balance under the Friday night lights on home soil against Burnley, a team revitalised since Christmas? Only Manchester City, Liverpool and United have picked up more points than Sean Dyche’s side since 30 December. They could welcome back Yerry Mina, while Theo Walcott is fit again after illness. Burnley, meanwhile, could call on Peter Crouch, available following an appendix operation. Victory for Everton would leave them firmly in the mix for a Europa League spot. Wolves, however, remain in the box-seat with two games to play; they are four points ahead of Everton, three in front of Leicester City. “It’s not something just in our hands, the competition is tight, we have to do our jobs and let’s see,” Silva said. “We have to play every single season in European competitions for us to keep growing as a club. It has to be always a pleasure, it has to be always a fantastic challenge for us and not a problem.”
Kick-off: 8pm (BST)