Southampton 2-0 Everton: Two own goals hurt Toffess’ top four hopes

Roberto Martinez is a refreshingly original thinker. He is also one of the most persuasively articulate managers in the English game. But, in the face of his side’s calamitous surrender on the South Coast, he struggled to compose a convincing sentence. Everton had conceded an own goal inside a minute and another half an hour later, and the freakish accidents seemed to unhinge both players and manager. For a team which had mounted a sustained and convincing surge towards the fourth Champions League place capitulated in the space of a single lunchtime. 'I don’t think we had that little bit of luck’, muttered Martinez. 'The own goals affected our confidence. We have to learn not to get frustrated’. Everton's hopes of earning a Champions League spot suffered a blow as own goals from Antolin Alcaraz and Seamus Coleman gifted Southampton a 2-0 victory at St Mary's Stadium. It took just one minute for the hosts to take the lead as Alcaraz, on just his fourth Premier League start, headed the ball into his own net from a cross by Rickie Lambert. And it was a case of deja vu less than half an hour later. Nathaniel Clyne floated a cross into the box which evaded both Alcaraz and John Stones but bounced off the unsighted Coleman's head into the corner of the net. The defeat for Roberto Martinez's side gives Arsenal the chance to move four points clear in fourth place when the Gunners take on Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night.Roberto Martínez might have used up all his miracles when he led Wigan Athletic to the FA Cup last season and, if that is the case, then Everton's Champions League dream is surely over. Making predictions is always a dangerous business and Martínez's sides have been renowned for their powers of escapism in the past but a victory for Arsenal against Newcastle on Monday would move them four points clear of Everton with two matches left. The battle for fourth place would be all but over. This was a traumatic defeat for Everton, one that began with Antolín Alcaraz scoring a spectacular own goal inside the first minute and ended with a wonderfully vibrant Southampton playing keep-ball as the minutes ticked away. For Everton, dishevelled and despondent by the end, what was most galling was that they had almost beaten themselves.