Shay Given's own goal early in the second half was enough to give Everton a 1-0 win over Stoke City at Goodison Park.
The Toffees had the better of the chances across the 90 minutes on Merseyside, but required a huge slice of luck to earn the three points which keeps their unbeaten start intact.
Stoke had a couple of openings of their own, yet they never truly troubled Maarten Stekelenburg in the Everton goal to make it just one point from nine for them.
Relive how the 90 minutes of action unfolded with Sports Mole's live text coverage below.
EVERTON XI: Stekelenburg; Baines, Williams, Jagielka, Holgate; Barry, Gueye; Bolasie, Mirallas, Barkley; Lukaku
STOKE CITY XI: Given; Bardsley, Shawcross, Cameron, Pieters; Whelan, Imbula; Diouf, Allen, Arnautovic; Crouch
EVERTON SUBS: Joel, Deulofeu, Kone, Lennon, Oviedo, Funes Mori, Davies
STOKE CITY SUBS: Haugaard, Muniesa, Adam, Walters, Bojan, Ramadan, Ngoy
© Getty Images
© Getty Images
Ronald Koeman: "I'm very happy with the work-rate of the team and how I like to improve and what we need to do. They are doing a lot of different things to last season and that's good. In my opinion, fresh air for everybody is good. I believe in that way and that philosophy. Of course you need time to get everybody involved in that structure. But it's better a question for the players because they need to change. I don't change."
Mark Hughes: "We enjoy going there and had a fantastic game last season. We'd take the same result, but maybe with less dramatic moments because there were too many goals and too many incidents. It's always a challenge against them when you look at the players they've got. You look at their bench at the weekend and there's significant talent there. I enjoyed my time there as a player as well and so it's always good to go back."
© Getty Images
EVERTON SUBS: Joel, Deulofeu, Kone, Lennon, Oviedo, Funes Mori, Davies
STOKE CITY SUBS: Haugaard, Muniesa, Adam, Walters, Bojan, Ramadan, Ngoy
© Getty Images