Watford 0 Everton 3:Everton strolled to a 3-0 victory at Premiership bottom club Watford and revived their hopes of ending the season with European qualification.

Whether this will appease the disgruntled Toffees fans who claim the club lacks real ambition remains to be seen but the result was certainly another bitter blow for Adrian Boothroyd's side.

A draw would have lifted Watford from the foot of the table and above West Ham, while victory would have brought next week's opponents Charlton, who had thrashed the Hammers 4-0, within touching distance again.

But goals from Manuel Fernandes and Andrew Johnson midway through the first period turned out to be blows from which the Hornets were unable to recover and substitute Leon Osman curled in a fine third in stoppage-time.

Everton now move above Portsmouth, who are at Blackburn tomorrow, and into seventh place.

Both sides had made changes following disappointing results in midweek.

Watford, who had failed to beat 10-man Wigan, had to do without injured goalkeeper Ben Foster, with Malky Mackay and Hameur Bouazza coming in for Dan Shittu and Johan Cavalli.

Everton were able to welcome back midfielder Tim Cahill, who had been banned for the home defeat by Spurs, with Gary Naysmith replacing Alan Stubbs in a defensive reshuffle.

It was the return of Johnson from a knee injury that was the most significant alteration however and the boos the home fans gave him from the start were subconscious admissions of how they feared him as much as a statement on his alleged diving habit.

Watford could have taken an early lead when Mackay beat goalkeeper Tim Howard to the ball after a corner had spun up off James Beattie but the veteran Scot saw his header clear the bar.

Everton wasted little time taking control of the midfield to begin a procession of chances and Foster's replacement, Richard Lee, almost embarrassed himself in the 18th minute by allowing a drive from Cahill squirm through his legs.

That was quickly and gratefully clawed back in time and the replacement then pulled off a save of quality to palm away Johnson's goalbound header.

But he was at fault again in the 23rd minute when Cahill fired in a low drive from the edge of the box. Lee could only parry it and was helpless as two blue shirts converged upon the loose ball, with Fernandes seemingly getting there a split second ahead of Johnson to put it away.

That lead was doubled within a couple of minutes when Johnson converted a penalty he had, inevitably, won himself.

The England man went to ground in the box when he was sandwiched at speed between Adrian Mariappa and Jay DeMerit. Referee Lee Mason had little hesitation in pointing to the spot and, indeed, the award looked sound enough.

Johnson then gave Lee no chance, having chosen power as well as the correct placement.

Watford would have pulled one back before the break had Howard not been alert enough to tip a Mackay header round his near post but that rare moment of hope for the home side came in between two let-offs at the other end, with Johnson the provider on both occasions.

First, Cahill blasted over with all the goal to aim at before Beattie repeated the feat five minutes before the break from even closer range and there were plenty of boos from the home fans on the half-time whistle.

Boothroyd made two changes at the start of the second period, with Mackay and Darius Henderson withdrawn in favour of defender Lloyd Doyley and young Hungarian striker Tamas Priskin.

Priskin fired over after a Doyley effort had been so miscued it ended up bobbling away for a throw-in but at least Watford were still trying to defy the inevitable - although the Mission Impossible theme tune played before kick-off had already summed up their plight perfectly.

And there was no mistaking Priskin's determination to net his first Premiership goal to add to the cup strike against Hull back in September that represents his only success in a yellow shirt so far.

First, he latched on to a knockdown to fire a 25-yarder just wide and then he met a pacy Steve Kabba cross from the right with a diving header that beat Howard but bounced inches wide of the far post.

Next he peeled away from marker Joleon Lescott to glance Tommy Smith's delivery to the back post just wide once again when he should really have hit the target.

Osman came on for Fernandes, who had just been booked, for the final nine minutes and netted the third in the final minute with a fine effort from outside the box.