Everton ended a five-game winless Premier League run by thrashing hapless Wolves at Goodison Park, piling the pressure on beleaguered Gary O'Neil.

Both managers were under intense scrutiny heading into Wednesday's fixture after their sides conceded four goals apiece at the weekend.

As O'Neil faced taunting from Wolves' own fans, with Craig Dawson netting two own goals, home boss Sean Dyche witnessed Everton put in a much more convincing performance than of late as they moved five points clear of the relegation zone.

Having not scored for four games, Everton broke that barren run with the perfect start courtesy of Ashley Young's delightful 25-yard free-kick, which curled round the wall and nestled into the bottom right corner.

The hosts thought they had doubled their lead six minutes later when James Tarkowski directed home a towering header from Dwight McNeil's cross. However, the goal was ruled out by referee Michael Salisbury who ruled Orel Mangala offside and interfering with play after checking the pitchside monitor.

Wolves did have their share of early chances but the in-form Matheus Cunha's low strike from the edge of the box and Jorgen Strand Larsen's poked effort were kept out by Jordan Pickford.

O'Neil's men were made to pay for those missed opportunities as their porous defence failed to clear the ball, allowing Mangala to pounce and smash in a first time finish from 20 yards out.

It got better for the home side in the second half, aided by a helping hand from Dawson, who inadvertently converted into his own net twice from McNeil's deliveries, as the visitors slumped to 19th place and three points adrift of safety.

Everton's final season at Goodison Park seemed to be turning sour, with the team last winning and scoring in October to leave them teetering above the bottom three.

A goal shortage has been the main issue, failing to score with their last 69 shots before this game, and their 10 goals ranked as the fewest by any team in the top flight this season.

But Everton put that statistic behind them in stylish fashion, punishing the woeful Wolves defence to collect their first three points since victory at Ipswich on 19 October.

This was just their third league win of the campaign and only their second at home, but it goes down as a priceless one which puts daylight between themselves and those in the drop zone behind them.

Victory and goals were vital for confidence considering Everton's next league games are against the current top four of Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.

After being thrashed 4-0 by Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, this was Everton's biggest league victory since they beat the Red Devils by the same scoreline in April 2019.

Abdoulaye Doucoure blazed over from eight yards out when one on one with goalkeeper Jose Sa early on, but play was brought back by referee Salisbury for Santiago Bueno's foul on Dominic Calvert-Lewin, with Young converting the resulting free-kick.

Mangala was perhaps unfortunate to have been penalised for offside as Tarkowski headed in, but the on-loan Lyon midfielder then thumped in Everton's second to give his side a cushion at the interval.

The luckless Dawson got the final touch of the ball on two occasions, denying Calvert-Lewin additions to his personal account on both occasions, as the Everton striker stretched his goalless run to 10 games.

Those Dawson own goals lifted the mood even further among the home support and Iliman Ndiaye had a goal ruled out for a foul on Sa as Everton threatened to run riot, with the margin of victory allowing Dyche to give a long-awaited debut to Armando Broja late on.

This was the sort of result and performance which has been known to get managers the sack.

Wolves were all over the place and the only saving grace from a shambolic showing was they went back home having conceded just the four goals.

However, they have conceded 36 goals in 14 games now, which is the most in the division and six more than bottom side Southampton.

O'Neil was subjected to crude chants from his team's own supporters in the second half and questions will be asked again about his future and how he can recover from this.

The result and atmosphere could have been so much more different had Cunha and Strand Larsen been able to take their chances in the first half, but the Wolves backline fell apart after that.