Both Everton and Nottingham Forest moved out of the Premier League relegation zone on Monday evening after both securing vital victories
Everton shocked European chasing Brighton and Hove Albion 5-1 away from home while Forest held on to defeat bottom-placed Southampton 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller.
Starting off with the game played on the south coast, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Dwight McNeil both scored twice for the Toffees as they stunned Brighton away from home.
Just 33 seconds on the clock, Doucoure broke the deadlock for Everton with a close-range finish, before he doubled the Toffees lead in the 29th minute with a controlled volley.
Goalkeeper Jason Steele then netted into his own net before the break to hand the visitors a 3-0 lead.
McNeil further increased Everton’s advantage midway the closing half with a sole briilant effort.
Alexis Mac Allister pulled a goal back for Brighton with less than 10 minutes to play but McNeil scored in the injury time to make sure Everton won by a four-goal margin to move out of relegation.
Everton now sit 17th on the table with three games left to play.
For Brighton, they remain seventh on the log, a point above Aston Villa in eighth with two games in hand.
To the game at the City Ground, Nottingham Forest held on to overcome Southampton 4-3 and also move out of the relegation zone.
Taiwo Awoniyi scored twice in the first 21 minutes to give Forrest a 2-0 lead, but Carlos Alcaraz pulled back a goal in the 25 minute to give Southampton a glimpse of hope.
Before the break, Morgan Gibbs-White restored Forest’s advantage from the spot.
Earlier on the second half, Lyanco scored for Southampton to put the score at 3-2 with over 40 minutes to play.
But with over 20 minutes to the death of the game, the score went to 4-2 after a classic Danilo goal for Forest.
Before the end of the game, James Ward-Prowse converted for Southampton from the spot to put the scores at 4-3 and produce a nervy ending.
Forest held on in the later exchanges of the game though, to secure a vital victory in their race to staying up.
They now move to 16th position on the log with 33 points garnered in 35 games.
