Everton's timely boost, Stoke safe

Steven Pienaar ... nets the winner to see Everton close on fifth spot. Source:AAP

Steven Pienaar netted a first-half winner to hand Everton a 1-0 victory over Fulham at Goodison Park in the Premier League and give their hopes of European football a timely boost.

The Toffees dominated the opening 45 minutes of the Merseyside clash and they were rewarded in just the 16th minute, when Pienaar tucked Seamus Coleman's low cross home from eight yards after some superb build-up from the hosts.

Everton began the day six points off fourth-placed Chelsea and although they closed that to three the Stamford Bridge side have a match in hand. Significantly, however, fifth-placed Spurs drew at Wigan, meaning their cushion over the Merseysiders is now only three points.

Everton boss David Moyes was pleased to see Pienaar provide the creativity needed to secure the win.

"Steven played well today and gave us the creativity we needed," he told Sky Sports.

"It was a brilliantly worked goal. It was a good football goal from our point of view. We felt we made good passes, played through and it was a good finish by Steven at the end."

Romelu Lukaku scored one and set up two in West Brom's fiery 3-0 victory at Southampton, in a game which saw three men given their marching orders.

The visitors took a thoroughly deserved lead through Marc-Antoine Fortune, who bundled the ball over Artur Boruc, after Lukaku had flicked a corner back into the six-yard box.

An excellently taken strike from the giant Belgian doubled the Baggies' lead, before Saints' substitute Gaston Ramirez and the visitors' Fortune were both sent off by referee Robert Madley, making his Premier League debut.

Shane Long netted his first goal in nine games shortly afterwards to seal the points for the visitors, but there was still time for Danny Fox to be dismissed in what turned out to be an unforgettable Premier League introduction for rookie referee Madley.

Charlie Adam's goal early in the second half gave Stoke a 1-0 win over Norwich to all but end their relegation fears.

Adam latched onto a Peter Crouch knockdown and swept the ball past Mark Bunn to secure a vital victory in a scrappy game at the Britannia Stadium.

The Potters have now reached the 40-point mark that has always been Tony Pulis' target, while the Canaries could still need one more win as they remain down on 38 points.

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