Richarlison’s third-minute goal was enough for Everton to claim three richly-deserved points at Huddersfield Town and jump three places to eighth in the Premier League table.

Marco Silva’s side carved out a number of openings in the first 45 minutes without being able to extend their advantage, attacking trio Bernard, Richarlison and Cenk Tosun spreading panic through the home defence.

But the Blues had to repel a wave of Huddersfield attacks in the final 25 minutes after substitute Lucas Digne was dismissed for bringing down Adama Diakhaby as the forward ran through on goal.

Richarlison stroked Everton in front very early in the piece.

Bernard collected a short pass from Tosun and slid a fine ball behind Huddersfield’s defence, picking out Tom Davies, timing his forward run to perfection and haring to the byline.

Richarlison had motored in off his flank and met Davies’ cut back with a strike which was repelled by Jonas Lossl – the goalkeeper saving with his legs but only nudging the ball back into the Brazilian’s path.

The Everton forward was falling as he connected with the rebound but able to control his low shot nevertheless and prod in his 11th goal of the campaign.

Prior to that, Richarlison had been involved in an extremely bright Everton start, sprinting down the left and passing infield for Gylfi Sigurdsson. The Icelander swapped passes with Bernard before playing in Seamus Coleman on the overlap, the Irishman winning his team a corner.

Sigurdsson was central to a lot of Everton’s work high up the pitch. Manager Silva’s team struck three efforts on target in the opening half and Sigurdsson was responsible for three of them.

His free-kick on the quarter-hour – after Tosun had felt the force of mighty centre-half Mathias Jorgensen – was fairly easily dealt with by Lossl.

Sigurdsson had a pop with his left boot after being teed up by Bernard but saw his strike smack into Jorgensen. The midfielder’s third attempt was the best of the lot, in terms of both its accuracy and its clever creation.

It needed a leap of imagination to believe there was a scoring chance immediately on when Sigurdsson received the ball with his back to goal from Andre Gomes.

One spin later and Sigurdsson was beyond Jonathan Hogg and forcing Lossl to save down to his left.

Huddersfield’s only real threat was coming via the occasional set-piece. Indeed, the early blow sustained by their team had deflated the locals to the extent that a shot dragged wide by Steve Mounie in the 45th minute – 44 minutes, 12 seconds, according the exasperated man on the home-leaning radio coverage – drew a loud and ironic cheer.

Everton would have already done more damage had Terence Kongolo not defended splendidly to intercept a Richarlison cross which was destined for Tosun in a menacing position.

Tosun was involved again when he released the underlapping Seamus Coleman to carry the ball inside and strike past the far post.

Elias Kachunga was over with a header from Kongolo’s left-wing cross on the hour as Huddersfield steadily started taking a few more risks in attack.

It had been Everton on the front foot shortly after the break, though, the mobile Davies on his bike again, latching onto Tosun’s delicate flick and twisting Jorgensen this way and that before hitting a rising drive which was tamed by Lossl.

Leighton Baines on his first Premier League start in five months defended superbly at the back post to deny Diakhaby a headed chance.

Baines succumbed to injury soon after, replaced by Digne on 55 minutes. The Frenchman’s evening was 11 minutes old when it was prematurely curtailed for impeding Diakhaby, who had raced onto Jason Puncheon’s pass over the top.

Substitute Aaron Mooy stood over the free-kick and sent it arcing towards the left of goal. Jordan Pickford, though, sprang to his right and prevent Everton from suffering a double blow.

Jonjoe Kenny came on for Tosun  – Richarlison moving central – and Everton battened down the hatches.

There was quarter-hour remaining when Florent Hadergjonaj, the right-back on the offensive for the first time, sent in an inswinging delivery which was headed wide by Mounie.

Kachunga located his accuracy when Diakhaby crossed from the right. But Pickford was equal to the forward’s effort, taking off to his right, once more, and palming to safety.

The Everton goalkeeper did not have to dirty his gloves again, Huddersfield camping in Everton territory but kept at arm's length by a resilient and disciplined rearguard which ushered their team over the line.

Richarlison Flattens John Smith’s

The game was fewer than three minutes old – moreover barely five minutes had passed since Huddersfield manager Jan Siewert was introduced to his new supporters to much acclaim – when Richarlison punctured the renewed optimism swirling around this corner of West Yorkshire.

The term ‘new manager bounce’ featured in all the pre-match chat as much any conjecture over potential line-ups or talk about the restorative impact a three-point bounty from this contest would have on either side.

Whatever the merits of this new-boss phenomenon, Everton blew a giant hole in it in no time, here.

Tom Davies came back into Everton’s side at the John Smith’s Stadium, the midfielder’s first Premier League start for more than a month, and the Blues’ opening goal had an awful lot to do with the 20-year-old’s energy and ambition.

Davies burst beyond his forwards to collect Bernard’s cute a pass deep in Huddersfield’s box. A sliver of hesitation would have been understandable given Davies’ relative lack of football of late.

There was not a hint of rust, however, in the way Davies drilled his pass to Richarlison. The attacker was in the centre of the penalty area and had his first attempt repelled by Jonas Lossl.

It was the goalkeeper’s misfortune that he could direct the ball only back to Richarlison, who was never likely to let the hosts off the hook a second time.

The Brazilian duly swiped the rebound into the net, dashing off to engage in his pidgeon dance while Evertonians sang about him coming cheap.

Marco Silva clenched both fists in celebration. Siewert sunk his hands deep in his pockets and considered a change in the prevailing mood.

Three Wise Men

The three players Marco Silva deployed directly behind main striker Cenk Tosun tonight ticked all manner of attacking boxes.

Richarlison claimed the early plaudits, the left-sider’s intelligent movement carrying him into a position right in the heart of the box where he could hurt Huddersfield.

It was Bernard, however, whose vision and immaculate execution unlocked the back door.

He collected possession out on the right and eliminated defender Terence Kongolo with one skilful flick of his boot, Bernard’s pass weighted and directed perfectly into the run of Tom Davies.

Bernard was a box of ticks on the right flank, throughout, his orange boots making him impossible to miss but no easier for Huddersfield’s defenders to get near.

The former Shakhtar Donetsk player employs his fabulous close control to lure opponents into tackles, duping his man and popping up on the other side.

Bernard is very good at springing his team on the attack when he is in his own half, too. One spin out of a tight spot and subsequent flighted pass for Richarlison 10 minutes before the break was both delightful and extremely effective.

Bernard’s teammates will give him the ball anywhere on the pitch. Coleman passed to the Brazilian in a very tight spot after half-time. He brought it under his spell, skipped past Mathias Jorgensen and set Everton on the attack.

Sigurdsson, operating in the centre of this South American pair – and central to so much of what Everton do going forward – sent three efforts on target in the opening half alone. He set the tone very early when knitting together Everton’s first attack in tandem with Bernard.

The former Swansea City player is another whose mastery of the ball tempts defenders into doing things they would really rather not.

Sigurdsson wins his side free-kicks in dangerous positions – one 12 minutes into the second half was rifled over by Richarlison.

That was a rare aberration from the South American, whose performance here packed a real punch.

He was purposeful in possession, passing forward almost without exception and also prepared to run with the ball.

All three men worked like stink to get back and help the men behind them, too, blocking spaces, tracking opponents and making tackles. Bernard even appeared way back in his own box late on, smuggling the ball back to goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

Industry, invention, force, skill and ambition. This was an Everton trio with plenty going for it.

Head Boy

It would be unfair on Cenk Tosun not to lump him in with the aforementioned three who operated in the Turk’s slipstream.

Tousn turned in a proper centre-forward’s display. He earned his chance to start in the Premier League for the first time since December 5 when he came off the bench to score at Millwall on Saturday.

It was the quality of Tosun’s finish in the Cup tie which won him his promotion as much as the goal itself.

He took it like a man bubbling with confidence and continued in the same vein here.

Tosun linked play expertly, never more than when applying a sumptuous touch to Bernard’s pass to send Tom Davies in on goal minutes after half-time.

The 27-year-old, on just his seventh league start this term, was fired up for this one, crashing into tackles, not giving the home defenders a second’s peace.

He even had a little part in Everton’s goal, drifting right to receive a throw-in and cushion a pass to Bernard, leaving space behind him for Richarlison to take advantage.

It says plenty about Tosun’s performance that when he was sacrificed following Digne’s dismissal, the Evertonians’ noisy roars of approval were matched in intensity by the boos cascading down from the home stands.

That goes down as a good night’s work in any reputable striker’s book.