Coming off the 4-1 loss to Newcastle at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday, Everton needed a bounce-back opportunity. Unfortunately, the trip to the Vitality Stadium to take on a Bournemouth side that had yet to lose at home this season didn't feel like the right opportunity.
But Everton set up with a clean sheet in mind, making certain not to be smashed again like they were on the weekend, and made life difficult for a Cherries' side that hasn't lacked in goal scoring so far this campaign.
It worked out in the end, as Everton took home a 1-0 win, their first ever at Bournemouth's home ground.
It was actually the visitors that came out on the front foot, controlling the match for the first half hour or so, but often turning beautiful build-up play into nothing once they got into the Bournemouth final third. The quartet of Jack Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Charly Alcaraz, and Iliman Ndiaye had plenty of freedom to swap positions to drive the offense forward, but it didn't amount to any scoring opportunities.
And then, as the first half was ticking to its close, it appeared that the home side had found the goal to break the deadlock, as Alex Jimenez found Eli Junior Kroupi on a neat little pass, but the striker was offside and Everton avoided a late capitulation.
The second half was much of the same, with both sides pushing back and forth to find the opening goal, but both teams looked intent on keeping clean sheets after poor defensive showings over the weekend.
And then, in the 78th minute, Everton finally found the way through via Jack Grealish, who scored his second goal in an Everton shirt. The Manchester City took a pass from Alcaraz off an errant clearance attempt by Marcus Tavernier, took a touch, and then fired the ball toward goal.
It took a deflection off Bafode Diakite's leg, leaving Djordje Petrovic flatfooted as he watched the ball sail by him and into the back of the net.
This left the Toffees with plenty of defending to do, but they stepped up valiantly, keeping Jordan Pickfor from having much to do on the day outside of a save in each half.
The win moves Everton up to 10th in the Premier League table, just ahead of Bournemouth. They'll host Nottingham Forest on Saturday at Hill Dickinson. The Cherries will host Chelsea on Saturday as well.