James Tarkowski’s second-half header gave Everton their first victory since October and lifted them out of the relegation zone against Arsenal.

The victory saw Everton manager Sean Dyche’s tenure got off to an unexpected start with a 1-0 victory over the Premier League leaders on Saturday.

With both the top two teams having played 20 games, the loss gave Arsenal a five-point advantage over second-placed Manchester City, which will travel to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

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After replacing Frank Lampard, Everton appeared to be a much-improved team in Dyche’s first game in charge.

They tormented Arsenal the entire game and nearly took the lead in the first half thanks to Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Abdoulaye Doucoure.

On the hour mark, Tarkowski finally opened the scoring for the home team with a header from a corner by fellow ex-Burnley player Dwight McNeil that soared past Aaron Ramsdale.

Dyche signed Tarkowski when he was at Burnley, and Tarkowski expressed his hope that the victory would change things for Everton, who had only won three league games all season before to Saturday.