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Stoke-on-Trent - Stoke kept Everton dangerously close to the relegation zone as Tony Pulis's side secured a 2-0 win at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
Kenwyne Jones opened the scoring with a first-half header and Phil Jagielka scored an unlucky own goal after the break to leave Everton just three points above the bottom three.
David Moyes' side have won only one of their last 10 matches and the Toffees will now be without star midfielder Tim Cahill for a month as he departs to play for Australia at the Asian Cup in Qatar.
After successive home defeats, mid-table Stoke were at their most determined and were rewarded for a typically physical and direct display.
Cahill carried Everton's only threat and he fed Steven Pienaar inside the box early on, only for the South African to hit a weak shot at Asmir Begovic.
Stoke should have taken the lead after 10 minutes when Jones headed a long Begovic punt through to striker partner Ricardo Fuller.
The Jamaica striker headed forwards himself to beat Sylvain Distin and open up the defence but then dragged his low shot wide.
The opener came after 23 minutes as Jones diverted another long ball into the path of Matthew Etherington and raced into the area.
Etherington skipped around Phil Neville on the left and picked out Jones with a perfect cross that the former Sunderland forward powered into the net.
There was controversy when referee Andre Marriner opted just to book Begovic when the goalkeeper rushed out and brought down Louis Saha just outside his area.
Everton applied more pressure at the start of the second half but Pienaar shot well wide when he miscued a volley.
Moyes' men were caught out again in the 69th minute as Danny Higginbotham sent a long free-kick into the box that Jones flicked straight up in the air.
Jagielka tried to get in the way as the ball dropped towards Fuller six yards out but got his feet tangled and it bounced off his leg and past Tim Howard.
Everton could have replied within a minute after Cahill was brought down by Ryan Shawcross but Leighton Baines curled his free-kick narrowly wide.
