Everton continued their fine home form with a 2-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion courtesy of Gaetan Bong's own goal and an excellent strike from Cenk Tosun.

A match pitting together two of the Premier League's mid-table clubs never looked likely to provide a feast of entertainment and the visitors' lack of ambition made for a largely drab affair, until a frantic final 30 minutes in which Wayne Rooney missed a penalty and Anthony Knockaert saw red.

Sam Allardyce's side certainly showed more desire to force the issue and were left to dwell on a first half of missed chances after going in goalless at the break.

But Bong inadvertently made the breakthrough in the second half when he shinned Yannick Bolasie's curling delivery into an unguarded net, with Theo Walcott lurking.

Tosun then scored for the second game running as he fired in off the underside of the crossbar and Knockaert was dismissed for the Seagulls having lunged in on the returning Leighton Baines, before Mat Ryan made an excellent save from Rooney's spot-kick.

The Toffees have now lost just once in 10 home league matches since Ronald Koeman left, with Saturday's triumph all but securing their top-flight safety.

Brighton can also almost begin to plan for another campaign among the elite, despite having seen a fine seven-match unbeaten streak in all competitions ended in meek fashion.