Wayne Rooney scores and misses penalties as Everton continue resurgent run

Gylfi Sigurdsson had the last word against his former supporters who had treated him to a first half verbal onslaught, with a magnificent solo goal that left Swansea rooted to the foot of the table ahead of the holiday programme.

The Icelandic international, sold to Goodison for £45 million last summer, collected a Wayne Rooney pass on the left and cut into the centre of the field before lining up his attempt.

And he dispatched an unstoppable 20-yard, right-foot effort past the diving Lukasz Fabianski to lift Everton into their first lead of the game, after Dominic Calvert-Lewin had been required to score a late first-half equaliser, following Rooney’s missed penalty, to cancel out a Leroy Fer opener.

Rooney, for whom that represented the 10th failed penalty out of 32 attempts in his Premier League career, would be presented with the chance to improve that record after 72 minutes.

Martin Olsson was harshly judged to have tripped Jonjoe Kenny and the former England captain made no mistake this time, comfortably beating Fabianski from the spot.

Swansea took a lead which may have been a surprise, in terms of the form book, but which was deserved on balance of play.

It was due also to an appalling piece of Everton defending - the very thing that new manager Sam Allardyce appeared to have eradicated - from Tom Carroll’s 35th minute corner.

Fer, arriving at the far post, was left completely unguarded as he converted one of the most routine of finishes from inside the six-yard area, his first league goal in 13 months and presumably one of the simplest of his career.

But Swansea are in their current predicament for a reason and showed it, failing to reach the interval with that lead intact.

In first-half injury-time, Aaron Lennon twisted in the Swansea area, midfielder Roque Mesa attempted to tackle him and succeeded only in making enough contact to bring the winger crashing to the ground.

Rooney, whose nine goals matched the entire Swansea team coming into the game, took the penalty kick only to see Fabianski make a superb diving save, touching it onto his left-hand post.

But, unfortunately for the keeper, his excellent work counted for nothing as the rebound fell kindly to Calvert-Lewin who drove the ball clinically into the Swansea goal.

Paul Clement would have been particularly disappointed at the ending to that first period, especially given how it had started.

Less than three minutes had gone when Wilfried Bony, the only Swansea player to have scored in their last seven games, limped off with a muscle pull to be replaced by Tammy Abraham.

Yet within a couple of minutes, Luciano Narsingh was cutting in from the right wing and producing a shot, which was aimed directly at Jordan Pickford, to suggest there might be some hope for the visitors.

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Everton, for all their rapid improvements under Allardyce, were taking time to find their rhythm.

It took until the 19th minute for the hosts to carve out anything resembling a chance, a speculative Rooney lob high over the goal from Cuco Martina’s cross.

Calvert-Lewin followed that up by threading a shot through a crowded area from 20 yards, although it lacked the power to trouble Fabianski in the Swansea goal.

And whatever their current problems, Swansea clearly sensed there was the chance of collecting something from the game, especially when Narsingh again found space to surge forward and shoot over.

Lennon finally brought the crowd to life, just before the half-hour, when he received a short Mason Holgate pass and shoved the ball through the legs of Alfie Mawson before running on to it and planting a shot just wide.

Holgate was involved again soon after, going into the book after upending Nathan Dyer and presenting Swansea with a free-kick which saw Carroll beat the wall but not Pickford,

The second half started as passively as the first had with Calvert-Lewin sparking the crowd into life when he charged down a Fabianski clearance although the ball flew out of harm’s way.

And Sigurdsson tried his luck against his former employers with a 25-yard shot that the keeper smothered easily before the lively Calvert-Lewin headed wide from a half-chance, a taster for what was to come just a few moments later.

Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Kenny, Holgate, Williams, Martina; Gueye, Schneiderlin (Davies 60); Lennon (Lookman 80), Rooney (Sandro 89), Sigurdsson; Calvert-Lewin. Unused substitutes: Robles, Keane, Jagielka, Vlasic.

Swansea (4-1-4-1): Fabianski; Naughton, Fernandez, Mawson, Olsson; Mesa; Narsingh, Fer, Carroll (Clucas 80), Dyer (Ayew 74); Bony (Abraham 3). Unused substitutes: Nordfeldt, Van Der Hoorn, Rangel, Sanches.

Referee: J Moss