Everton must wish they could play Swansea every week. Without a win in 15 meetings, Swansea have failed to score in four of the last five encounters. After the injustice of Monday's draw with Newcastle, the Toffees began in purposeful fashion. Finishing with over 30 attempts on goal, this was Everton at their attacking best.



Establishing their dominance from the first whistle, Everton could and probably should have scored five or six. With three minutes on the clock, Kevin Mirallas tested Michel Vorm with a low effort before Vorm kept out his headed follow-up. Squandering possession with ease, Swansea struggled with Everton's pressing game.

Pablo volleyed wide from Swansea's first sight of goal. As Everton threatened to run riot, Swansea were lucky to keep their full quota. Victor Anichebe burst through was brought down by Ashley Williams outside the area. While defender Alan Tate was close by, he would not have been able to make up the ground. The referee, however, deemed the tackle worthy of a yellow and Swansea survived with eleven men.

Despite Everton's dominance, Swansea were never out of it during the first half. After Phil Jagielka headed one off the line, Ki Sung-Yueng flashed a curling effort past Tim Howard's left hand post. Ironically, following Swansea's best spell of the match, Everton grabbed their second. A wonderful move covering the length of the pitch ended with Mirallas scoring his first league goal for Everton.

With the ball by the Everton corner flag, Seamus Coleman and Phil Neville played their way out of a tight spot before Fellaini's clever through-ball released Steven Pienaar. Pienaar's measured cross reached Mirallas in the middle, only for Vorm to brilliantly save his initial effort. Fortunately, Mirallas reacted first and his diving header put Everton two goals to the good.

Before the interval, Swansea spurned two glorious chances to pull one back. The problem for the home side was that both chances fell to right back Angel Rangel. Forcing a save from Howard with the first, the second went sideways and failed to reach the goal.

After the break, Michu seized upon slack Everton defending to bring another save from Howard. Shortly afterwards, Mirallas hit the crossbar and Anichebe was denied by Vorm as Everton looked to put the game to bed. In keeping with the end-to-end nature of the game, Ki drew a fantastic save from Howard just moments later.

With 57 minutes gone, Nathan Dyer extinguished all hopes of a Swansea recovery. Only on the pitch for 12 minutes, the winger received two bookings in as many minutes. This allowed Everton to continue its domination, though they wasted countless opportunities to put the result beyond doubt. Fellaini fired over and saw a header cleared off the line and Anichebe sliced another chance wide before Everton finally got their third.

Thanks to the ever-accurate delivery of Leighton Baines, Fellaini headed home a goal he'd deserved all afternoon. Taking a slight deflection on the way, few would take the goal away from the Belgian. Swansea hit the bar in injury time and a Jagielka block ensured Everton kept their clean sheet.

With Nikica Jelavic, Tony Hibbert and Darron Gibson injured, Everton showed that there are players eager to step up. Coleman showed great potential in his favoured right back position while Anichebe silenced the doubters with a powerful showing in attack. In addition, Howard bounced back from a poor showing on Monday night with a string of fine saves.

The entire Everton side contributed but Fellaini remains this season's stand-out performer. You could travel thousands of miles in any direction but will not find a player with better chest control. Involved in all three goals, the Belgian continues to terrorise Premier League defences.

For once, Everton have hit the ground running. Normally reserving their best football for January onwards, there is an air of optimism building around Goodison Park though the squad remains thin, with injuries threatening to derail the club's progress. However, if David Moyes can avoid it turning into a crisis, this could be Everton's best season for quite some time.