Saturday's early Premier League kick-off was a crunch match with both teams fighting to be the best-of-the-rest. Burnley had the bragging rights going into the game, three points and two places above Everton in seventh, and it was an entertaining 90 minutes as both sides expressed their attacking intent.
However, it was Everton who struck the first blow as Cenk Tosun scored his first goal for Everton, meeting Seamus Coleman's flick-on to powerfully head the ball into the back of the net to become the first Turkish player to score in England's top division since Jem Karacan on May 4th 2013.
3 March 2018
It meant Burnley went into the break a goal down and things did not look optimistic for the home side as they had so far failed to go on and win any of their last 53 Premier League matches when they have conceded the first goal (W0 D11 L42), but records are there to be broken.
- The 'Clarets' fight back -
Burnley came out all guns blazing after the break and were rewarded in the 56th minute for their pressure as Barnes left his marker in the dust to run onto a brilliant through-ball from midfield, emphatically hitting his shot into the back of the net to score in successive appearances for the first time since December 2014.
The home side were comfortably on top following the breakthrough as Everton appeared rattled. Sam Allardyce decided to bring talisman Wayne Rooney off the bench to try and turn the momentum and it worked to some extent.
The 'Toffees' had two chances in quick succession as Theo Walcott's fizzed cross from the right just evaded a poaching Oumar Niasse while Gylfi Sigurdsson then cut his shot wide of the target after dancing past a few defenders in the box.
However, Burnley would score their second soon after to hammer another dent in Everton's hopes of three points as Chris Wood battled his way to rise highest from a corner, towering over the Everton defence to nod the ball past Jordan Pickford - who didn't deserve to be on the losing side.
The visitor's woes were then compounded five minutes later when captain Ashley Williams was shown a straight red for flinging an arm back at Barnes as he reacted to the two jostling for position during an Everton corner. It was argubaly harsh as the Wales international didn't lead with an elbow but it was also a stupid decision by the experienced defender.
With 10 men, Everton had no chance of finding a late equaliser as they suffer their 19th defeat in all competitions this season - their most in a single campaign since 2005-06 (21).
3 March 2018
The win does not change anything in the Premier League as Burnley cement their seventh-placed position and are now four points ahead of Leicester City, who play Bournemouth at home in Saturday's 4pm (CET) kick-offs.
As for Allardyce and Everton, they remain in ninth but could drop down depending on the results in Watford's, Bournemouth's and Brighton's fixtures.