Everton started much the brighter of the two teams and were soon ahead when Dominic Calvert-Lewin netted once again to continue his remarkable hot streak.
The 23-year-old leapt at the back post to head in, scoring his ninth goal in six games and netting in four consecutive games for the first time in his career.
But Graham Potter’s men were perturbed and equalised close to half-time. A dreadful error from Jordan Pickford saw the ball fall out of his hands and into the feet of Neal Maupay.
But just moments before the whistle, the Blues went back in front as Yerry Mina headed in a James free kick to reassert the Merseysiders dominance.
Provider turned to finisher after the break though, as James scored Everton’s third of the game after some great work by Alex Iwobi down the left-hand side.
James wasn’t finished there however, as he scored almost the exact same goal again on 70 minutes, tapping in from acres of space at the far post.
The away side did pull one back late on, Yves Bissouma hitting one cleanly from the edge of the area, but it wasn’t enough as the Toffees won again.
