Sean Dyche deepens woes of former club Burnley by leading Everton to win

BURNLEY, England — Everton manager Sean Dyche deepened the relegation worries of former club Burnley as his return to Turf Moor ended in a 2-0 win for his team in the English Premier League on Saturday.

Dyche, who twice guided Burnley to promotion and kept the club up against the odds during a decade at the club, promised to show no sentimentality 20 months after his firing amid their last, unsuccessful, battle against the drop.

First-half goals from Amadou Onana and Michael Keane secured Everton’s fourth league win in a row – a feat the team last achieved three years ago. An eighth league win of the season already matches last year’s tally as Everton continues to climb away from trouble after its 10-point penalty for financial mismanagement.

Without that sanction, Everton would be ninth.

Dyche is still loved in Burnley, where the Royal Dyche pub proudly bares his name, and he emerged from the tunnel to a standing ovation from all sides.

Vincent Kompany, who brought Burnley back to the league with a 101-point campaign in the Championship, has rebuilt the club in a different image. Having taken four points from their last three games to match its return from the previous 13, Burnley started well and kept Everton pegged back.

PHOTOS: Dyche deepens woes of former club Burnley by leading Everton to win

But the results they desperately need are not there to match, and although Dwight McNeil – one of three former Burnley players in the Everton starting lineup – spurned a glorious chance, Everton needed only 19 minutes to take the lead.

James Trafford did well to keep out Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s close-range header but Burnley failed to defend the resulting corner and it was all too easy for Onana to get away from Josh Brownhill and power in at the far post.

Jacob Bruun Larsen and Jay Rodriguez both saw shots blocked in the Everton box, and six minutes later it was 2-0 to the visitors.

Jordan Pickford hit a long free kick forward and James Tarkowski headed it down for another former Claret, Keane, to try his luck from range. Trafford parried, but the ball struck Dara O’Shea and fell kindly for Keane, in for the suspended Jarrad Branthwaite, to sweep home his first goal of the season.