12th April, 2014
Everton leapfrogged Arsenal into fourth place in the Premier League with a 1-0 win at bottom of the table Sunderland as English football marked the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.
Fresh from their 3-0 victory over the Gunners last weekend, Roberto Martinez’s side had to wait until the 75th minute to score at the Stadium of Light when former Manchester United defender Wes Brown put Gerard Deulofeu’s cross into his own net.
Victory moved Everton into the Champions League places, two points ahead of Arsenal, who are in FA Cup semi-final action against Wigan at Wembley, with both clubs having five league games remaining this season.
“From our point of view, to keep a clean sheet in those circumstances was very pleasing and it was also important to take one of our chances too,” Everton manager Roberto Martinez said.
It was Everton’s seventh successive league victory, matching a similar run from their 1987 title-winning season.
Before kick-off, a minute’s silence was observed at all major English matches as a tribute to the looming 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.
The tragedy saw 96 Liverpool fans effectively crushed to death while standing on a terrace at Sheffield Wednesday’s ground during the FA Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest.
The match, which took place on 15 April, 1989, was abandoned in the sixth minute as fans scrambled onto the pitch in a desperate bid to escape the horror behind them.
In memory of that match, all senior fixtures in England kicked off seven minutes late on Saturday.
Meanwhile things tightened up at the foot of the table as relegation-threatened Fulham and second-bottom Cardiff won to close the gap on the teams immediately above them.
Norwich sacked manager Chris Hughton in a bid to preserve their Premier League status but the Canaries first match under former youth coach Neil Adams left them even closer to relegation after a 1-0 defeat at Fulham, courtesy a Hugo Rodallega strike.
Cardiff climbed to within three points of safety with a shock 1-0 win away to Southampton, with Juan Cala’s 65th-minute goal proving decisive at St Mary’s.