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Barbers of Liverpool, prepare your clippers – skinheads are coming back into fashion.

Ross Barkley may have raised eyebrows with his close shave yesterday, and Everton had their own at the Liberty Stadium when a late own goal rocked their victory hopes.

* Read More: Coleman - we can keep this up

But English football’s outstanding young talent ensured starry-eyed junior Toffees will be trying to copy his stunning free-kick in their new kits over Christmas, and probably asking for a similarly severe haircut, as he delivered a festive three points for the Blues with that virtuoso strike.

Afterwards, he admitted he doesn’t even practise free-kicks. This is a player of innate, rare talent. It’s always been considered a burden to compare promising Everton academy products to Wayne Rooney, but when it comes to the Wavertree youngster it’s difficult to avoid with each passing performance.

Barkley might have had a penalty in the first half when Ashley Williams resorted to upending him in the area after he stopped dead with the ball at his feet, and teased the experienced defender with a series of feints.

Then he almost scored with a thunderbolt strike after the break that forced Swansea keeper Gerhard Tremmel into a fantastic save.

He even slipped on the greasy surface as the goal beckoned on another occasion. But he wasn’t to be denied, and when the consistently excellent James McCarthy earned that late free-kick with a super-charged 40-yard run, Barkley delivered.

For the second game in a row, the Blues had enough to prosper even when not quite at their best.

Now unbeaten in 10, they’re in the winning habit and their top four credentials become more compelling by the week. Beyond that? The travelling Evertonians sang “We’re going to win the League” and although that’s clearly unlikely, if Liverpool are allowed to dream, then the Blues – just two points behind them – could be forgiven for indulging themselves in a spot of fantasy too.

This contest in South Wales was never going to be easy, even if Everton’s record against Swansea is formidable.

It was 1930 when the Swans last tasted victory in this fixture, but Michael Laudrup’s men seemed more determined than ever to change that in the opening phases, looking bright and vibrant.

But gradually Everton started to see more of the ball, and find space on the attack with their midfield starting to click.

Kevin Mirallas began to test Ben Davies, and he turned the full-back easily after 15 minutes but opted to try and catch out Tremmel with a shot at his near post when a pass across goal to the lurking Romelu Lukaku was the better option.

On his reintroduction to the side after being briefly benched last time out, the Belgian looked eager to impress however, and next forced Williams to concede a corner after he latched onto a loose pass from Chico Flores.

From Mirallas’ resulting set-piece Steven Pienaar lost his marker but headed straight at Tremmel.

By now the Blues were carving out a series of clear openings, and Barkley also got past Davies to fire a low cross aimed at Lukaku which again had to be put behind.

Then he was unlucky not to get a penalty after that stand-off with Williams.

Swans could only hold on, but they bared their teeth when Wayne Routledge’s scampering run and clever pass freed Wilfried Bony only for the big striker to wildly lash his strike over the bar.

The tempo slowed after that, as both sides tried to dominate with the ball in the manner laid down by Roberto Martinez.

That’s not all they had in common either, with both increasingly frustrated by the erratic decisions of ref Lee Mason.

The longer the stalemate continued, the further Swansea’s confidence grew after their shaky opening spell. They began to press the Toffees more vigorously and deny them space to thrive, and after the break Swansea added further attacking edge.

In response Everton mustered a Mirallas cross that Tremmel caught comfortably and an off-target Pienaar shot from the edge of the area.

The South African provided a lovely pass minutes later for Barkley, who tumbled and then Seamus Coleman did well to skip past two tackles into the area and force a corner.

By now the Blues were back in the ascendancy, and Tremmel touched that 20-yard Barkley effort onto the crossbar.

The keeper was decidedly less effective when Coleman beat him with aplomb however.

Everton’s ever-impressive right-back unleashed a 25-yard effort that swerved wickedly on its way in, but the away end’s merriment was short-lived.

Swansea countered, and slack defending by Pienaar from a sweeping cross to the back post allowed Dwight Tiendalli to bustle him out of the way and score with a close range deflected shot off Bryan Oviedo.

To make matters worse, Pienaar was forced off with a thigh injury after Flores caught him full on with his knee.

Steven Naismith was introduced in his place, and Leon Osman entered for Mirallas, whose impact had waned.

The momentum was back in Swansea’s favour, as sub Alvaro Vazquez wasted a good chance to give them the lead and Jonjo Shelvey deliberated too much when well placed in front of goal.

But Barkley had his definitive say on proceedings, to ensure that the infectious feelgood factor remains undiluted at Goodison.

Tim Howard played his part in keeping it that way with a tremendous block from Pablo Hernandez’s goal-bound strike, and bettered that by denying Roland Lamah with his fingertips in added time.

For Martinez the victory was his most satisfying moment of the campaign yet.

Everton’s total of four Premier League away wins this season is as many as they managed in the whole of 2012-13.

They just keep going. Even on the road, there’s a growing sense of expectancy about results as the adventure on display is relentless.

Merry Christmas indeed.