Everton have reached the fourth round of the EFL Cup following a straightforward 3-0 win over Sunderland in Wednesday night's clash at Goodison Park.
The visitors mustered the first effort on goal six minutes in, but James Vaughan's shot from just outside the box sailed wide of Maarten Stekelenburg's left-hand post.
From then on it was one-way traffic as the Toffees weighed in with several chances, with Nikola Vlasic and Sandro Ramirez coming close.
It remained goalless until the 38th minute, when Vlasic's clever flick released Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the box, the striker keeping his composure to beat Jason Steele with a low effort.
Ronald Koeman's charges then doubled their lead in the 51st minute as Ramirez made up for a wasted free kick moments earlier by sliding through a pass for Calvert-Lewin, who rifled into the top corner of the Black Cats' net.
Just before the hour, the 20-year-old came close to sealing his hat-trick as he stretched to head Davy Klaassen's cross goalwards, only for the post to come to Sunderland's rescue.
There was to be no fightback from Simon Grayson's side, however, as eight minutes from time, Oumar Niasse latched on to Tom Davies's pass and blasted the ball into the roof of the net.
Giuseppe Labellarte
