Marouane Fellaini showed exactly why he is one of the most coveted players in Europe, having a hand in all three of Everton's goals as the Toffees ran out 3-0 winners over Swansea City in the English Premier League.
Goals from Victor Anichebe, Kevin Mirallas and Fellaini sealed the win for the away side at the Liberty Stadium, taking them to second in the table with 10 points from five matches, while Swansea, who saw Nathan Dyer sent off in the second half for a second bookable offense, remain on seven points.
Everton started the much better side, with the Welsh team taking an age to wake up from their slumber. Mirallas had the first crack at the Swansea goal, the Belgian international forward forcing a save from Michel Vorm after some nice play from Anichebe. A Leighton Baines freekick came to nothing, before a long punt from the left-back in the 21st minute found Fellaini in the box, who chested the ball down, then used his elbows to direct it towards the waiting Anichebe, who made no mistake in slotting it past the goalkeeper; the referees missing the hand-ball inside the box.
That goal seemed to wake Michael Laudrup's side up, with Swansea slowly growing into the game as the half wore on. First, new signings Pablo Hernandez and Michu combined, before the former's shot was cleared off the line. Soon after, Michu saw his header off a corner just go above the crossbar. Another new signing Ki Sung-Yueng then almost equalized, but saw his wonderful curling effort from outside the box, go inches wide.
A classic counterattack from Everton doubled the away side's lead in the 43rd minute. Fellaini played a wonderfully weighted through ball to Steven Peinaar, who in turn picked out Mirallas. The Belgian saw his shot saved onto the crossbar by Vorm, but reacted first to head in the rebound.
Swansea should have reduced the deficit just before half-time, however, but Angel Rangel could not find the back of the net after ghosting in from the right-back position; Tim Howard making a brilliant save with his legs.
The second half saw some end-to-end action early on, with Mirallas hitting the crossbar, before Ki saw his shot brilliantly saved by Howard at the other end. Then the home side's chances pretty much vanished, when substitute Dyer picked up his second yellow, after only being on the pitch for a little over ten minutes.
Fellaini added the icing to the cake eight minutes from time, when the midfielder saw his header, again off a Baines free kick, deflect off Ashley Williams and into the back of the net, handing Swansea their second-straight defeat after a brilliant start to the new campaign.
