Plenty for Gareth Southgate to Ponder at Either End After Everton's Latest Win

Everton moved to the summit of the Premier League with their fourth successive top flight victory - and sixth in all competitions - as they ran out 4-2 winners over Brighton.

Although the scoreline was relatively comfortable, it would have been even more resounding had it not been for a Yves Bissouma wonder goal in second half injury time.

But this was not an all conquering Everton performance - they soaked up Brighton pressure for large spells in the second half, but were simply lethal in front of goal to ensure they took home all three points.

One man particularly responsible for Everton's potency and cutting edge in the final third was Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Fresh from receiving his maiden England call up on Thursday, the forward opened the scoring in the first half with his ninth goal of the season.

Calvert-Lewin rose highest and hung in the air remarkably before powering a header past Mat Ryan in the Brighton goal following Gylfi Sigurdsson's teasing cross. It was a bullet header to rival that of his on the opening day of the season against Tottenham - the Duncan Ferguson influence becoming more and more evident every time the net bulges.

The 23-year-old has been on the scoresheet every time he has stepped foot on the pitch this season, and the 2020/21 campaign is already the second highest scoring season of his career - despite being just six games old.

He played a pivotal role in Everton's killer third, intelligently sliding Alex Iwobi through in the build up to James Rodriguez's well taken half volley.

Calvert Lewin diligently worked the channels all afternoon and his movement and energy caused the Brighton backline all kinds of problems, despite the Toffees being on the back foot for much of the second half.

The Everton forward will join up with the England team for the first time next week. He is in the form of his life - oozing confidence - and is the top scoring Englishman in the Premier League. On current form, he cannot be included in the Three Lions squad to simply make up the numbers.

The friendly against Wales on Thursday evening seems the ideal opportunity to blood Calvert-Lewin.

However, at the other end of the pitch, Jordan Pickford could be giving Southgate a selection headache for all the wrong reasons after he fumbled a weak Leandro Trossard effort that led to Brighton's equaliser.

He then almost gifted the Seagulls a second when he palmed a cross straight into the danger area, only for Tom Davies to be on hand to block Neal Maupay's goal-bound effort.

Southgate has been loyal to Pickford - who has never put a foot wrong in an England shirt - but with Nick Pope, and Dean Henderson to a lesser extent, continuing to bang on the door, the Everton stopper cannot afford to keep making mistakes. He's now made 11 errors that have directly led to goals in the last three years, more than any other Premier League goalkeeper.

However, Pickford's performance should not detract from another terrific result for Everton, and it is a testament to the job that Carlo Ancelotti is doing that his number nine is looking to establish himself as the number nine for his country too.