Premier League ever-presents Everton can look forward to another campaign in the big time thanks to a 1-0 win over Brentford at Goodison Park.
Knowing that victory would assure them of survival thanks to results elsewhere going their way earlier in the day, the Toffees comfortably kept the toothless Bees at bay and confirmed their safety with three games to spare thanks to a second-half Idrissa Gueye strike.
A season marred by points deductions would end up having a happy ending for Sean Dyche's side, who occupy 15th in the rankings with an unassailable 11-point lead to Luton Town in the drop zone, meaning that the Toffees can enjoy a stress-free end to the campaign.
While Thomas Frank's men deserved nothing from the game and got exactly that, the 16th-placed visitors will also play top-flight football in 2024-25, having also benefitted from the afternoon outcomes.
Goalkeepers kept quiet in 16-shot first half
Star strikers dominated the pre-match headlines on Merseyside, where Ivan Toney was passed fit to start for Brentford, but Everton could not call upon the ill Dominic Calvert-Lewin, meaning that Youssef Chermiti made his first start in England's top division.
Dyche's side were their own worst enemies in a nail-biting first half, though, as while 16 shots were fired - 12 on the Toffees' side - neither team could muster a single attempt on target before heading down the tunnel.
The net nearly rippled with just six minutes gone through full Premier League debutant Chermiti, who stretched to try to reach Dwight McNeil's ball across the box but just could not reach it; any contact and the teenager would have had a tap-in.
A promising chance for Brentford's Mathias Jensen in the 19th minute was then snuffed out by a brilliant Jarrad Branthwaite block, and last-ditch defensive efforts were the order of the first half.
Both defences produced several more blocks before Abdoulaye Doucoure was presented with a golden chance to break the deadlock in the 45th minute - or at least get an effort on target - but he got his strike all wrong after being teed up by Chermiti.
A goalkeeper would finally have a save to make five minutes into the second half, and it was a praiseworthy one from Jordan Pickford, who raced across his six-yard box and denied Toney after Jensen's brilliant ball to find the Englishman.
As Brentford came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock, so did Everton in the 53rd minute, as McNeil had a crack from distance and saw his swerving strike thump the crossbar with Mark Flekken beaten.
Gueye ensures Everton's perennial Premier League status
Despite Brentford's own gilt-edged chance, it was Everton who had their tails up after McNeil's stunning drive, and the goal that the Toffees faithful yearned for arrived on the hour mark, as the Bees could only clear a corner as far as Gueye.
The midfielder's delicate cross back into the box found Jack Harrison, and Brentford failed to deal with his low ball into the mixer, allowing Gueye to arrive on the scene and fire in a powerful strike into the side of the net.
Gueye's strike survived a VAR review to spark a second round of cheers around Goodison Park, and McNeil came within inches of doubling the hosts' lead in the 66th minute, but his attempt from a tight angle flashed across the six-yard box and the wrong side of the far post.
Brentford's endeavours to break down a stingy Everton backline were futile, and the Bees survived a late heart-in-mouth moment in injury time, when James Garner's speculative free kick rattled the crossbar over Flekken's outstretched arm.
Pickford then got down low to deny Kevin Schade as the clock ticked down, but the Everton backline emerged unscathed before the survival party began, and Dyche's side now travel to Luton Town next weekend with a spring in their step.
Meanwhile, fellow bottom-half battlers Brentford play their penultimate home game of the season next weekend, hosting London rivals Fulham. body check tags ::
