On Hallowe’en night, City provided all the treats while it was the Toffees who were left with the sour taste.
Goals from Seko Fofana, Thierry Ambrose and Brandon Barker gave the EDS a commanding lead, and Hallam Hope’s strike proved mere consolation for the Merseysiders.
City’s youngsters were aiming to bounce back from a disappointing 6-2 loss away to Leicester on Monday evening, against a foxes side featuring four players who have already made their Premier League debuts.
Vieira largely kept faith with his young side who suffered that set back in the East Midlands, making just three changes from the team who started at the King Power Stadium. George Evans returned to partner Shay Facey at centre back, while Olivier Ntcham and Thierry Ambrose were on the field from the start after coming off the bench against Leicester.
Jose Angel Pozo dropped to the bench. Meanwhile, the visitors fielded Bryan Oviedo at left back as he makes his injury comeback.
City started strongly with Ntcham and Fofana seeking to gain immediate command of midfield, and it was the home side who forced the first save of the night, Everton’s Jindrich Stanek pushing away Ambrose’s shot after the Frenchman had been played in expertly by Angelino.
Chances were at a premium in the early stages, but City struck twice in six minutes to seize control of the game under the Ewen Fields floodlights. Fofana’s curling effort from outside the box looked to be too close to Stanek, but although the keeper got two hands to the shot he was powerless to do anything more than divert the ball into the back of the net.
Ambrose was quick to double the advantage, heading home in a crowded penalty area from Pablo Maffeo’s cross to give the young Blues a 2-0 lead before the 25 minute mark.
Ntcham and Barker both forced saves from Stanek in quick succession, and sensing a chance to increase their advantage, City continued pressing the young keeper. Persistence paid off for Ambrose, who robbed the ball and squared for Barker to tap in a third.
Matthew Pennington came closest for the hosts, but he could only find Gunn’s gloves with a header from a corner, while at the other end Ambrose smacked the underside of the bar seconds before the half time whistle.
It was more of the same after the break - a Bytyqi shot stung the palms of Stanek while Ambrose was quickest to the rebound but saw his shot cleared off the line.
Everton enjoyed more of the ball as the half progressed, but City were still causing problems with constant pressing and harrying. Connor Grant sent a shot whistling past Gunn’s far post, while Charsley fired off target from 18 yards out.
Vieira brought on Ashley Smith-Brown as an attempt to shore up the defence, but Hallam Hope finally broke City’s resistance with less than 10 minutes to play, running beyond the defence and finishing confidently past Gunn.
The Toffees seized control in the latter stages and looked to make Vieira’s men pay. Gunn was called upon to deny Hope his and Everton’s second with a good one handed stop, and he made an excellent save from Pennington to preserve the two goal cushion.
There was time for Christopher Long to fire high over the bar in the dying seconds, but City deservedly saw out Everton’s late onslaught to claim all three points and start November top of the pile.
