**Everton racked up back-to-back Premier League wins against Burnley.**
James Tarkowski opened the scoring against his former employers by powering home James Garner’s free kick in at the far post.
The Blues doubled their lead early in the second half with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s rolled finish after being teed up by Iliman Ndiaye from a flowing move.
David Moyes’ side remain eighth in the table following their first top flight home victory in three months over the relegation-threatened Clarets.
_Here were the key talking points from Hill Dickinson Stadium:_
Blues rediscover home comforts
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Until Burnley’s visit, Everton felt like strangers in their own home.
Hill Dickinson Stadium had not toasted a victory of any description since the [comfortable downing of Nottingham Forest](https://www.clickliverpool.com/sport/everton-fc/62171-everton-3-0-nottingham-forest-three-talking-points-thierno-barry-sean-dyche-charly-alcaraz/) at the beginning of December.
Since then, David Moyes’ side could not buy a win in the Premier League and crashed out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle on penalties to Sunderland.
Only the Blues’ imperious away form kept alive their hopes of European qualification and giving their magnificent abode a fitting stage to host it.
But after three months, seven games and 660 minutes, they are finally back up and running with their first win by the banks of the Mersey in 2026.
It had been a long time coming and the importance of equalling the five top flight triumphs of Goodison Park’s final season cannot be understated.
The move to Bramley-Moore Dock brought its own challenges without an unexpected winless run being thrown into the mix this early into its lifespan.
Now Evertonians have been able to scratch that particular itch, they can start to potentially dream about their team’s continental ambitions being fulfilled.
McNeil deservedly gets his dues
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Dwight McNeil faced a crossroads after his deadline day exit collapsed.
The winger had been all set to bring the curtain down on a three-and-a-half year spell on Merseyside in the form of a loan-to-buy move to Crystal Palace.
At the 11th hour, however, the FA Cup holders plunged his career into limbo by leaving him high and dry after failing to get the proposed deal over the line.
Many expected McNeil’s crushing blow to kill off what had already become a peripheral season, only for Moyes to reintegrate him into the first-team fold.
He had already repaid the manager’s faith in last weekend’s thrilling win at Newcastle that saw him retained in an unchanged line-up against the Clarets.
Against his former employers, McNeil followed up his imperious display in the North East with more key contributions with a hand in both of Everton’s goals.
Beyond winning the free kick and kitting the play in the build-up to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s strike, he was a hive of activity both on and off the ball.
A standing ovation as he made way for Tyrique George in the closing stages was no less than McNeil’s efforts in the face of personal adversity deserved.
Moyes throws another curveball
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Historically, Everton teams under Moyes have been a relatively open book.
Opponents know exactly what to expect when they face his drilled charges that has both a strong rear-guard while also the potential to punish them.
Yet the Scot does occasionally throw a curveball to those preconceptions.
Straight from the kick-off, James Garner rolled the ball back to Dewsbury-Hall, who flicked it up on the halfway line and proceeded to launch it skywards.
The playmaker’s curious punt, immediately headed clear by Joe Worrall, would pass for a modern iteration of the archetypal ‘put it in the mixer’ tactic.
Burnley are not the first team to be on the receiving end of Garner and Dewsbury-Hall’s up-and-under double act, including at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The pair carried out the routine in the second half of last month’s defeat to Manchester United; creating a chance for stand-in winger Harrison Armstrong.
In a Premier League season where rudimentary methods have become a default tactic for many clubs, Moyes clearly has another trick up his sleeve.