Premier League: Blackburn 0 Everton 1

A last-gasp penalty from Mikel Arteta handed Everton their first league win of the season with a 1-0 triumph over Blackburn at Ewood Park.

But Blackburn boss Steve Kean will rue his side’s mistakes after they squandered two spot kicks of their own before Arteta slotted home the winner in second-half stoppage time.

Kean welcomed back defender Chris Samba for the clash and he also handed the captain’s armband to Brett Emerton with the Australian making his final appearance for the club before heading back home to join Sydney FC.

Everton, meanwhile, were boosted by the returns of Arteta, Marouane Fellaini and Victor Anichebe, with Tim Cahill dropping to the bench.

The first half was fiercely contested, and the hosts thought they had earned themselves a penalty just inside the 10 minute mark when Gael Givet went to ground under pressure from Anichebe but the referee waved the appeals away.

Blackburn continued to apply the pressure and it took a fine tackle from Sylvain Distin to deny Jason Roberts a clear run on goal.

Injuries disrupted the first half when Blackburn were forced to replace both Morten Gamst Pedersen and David Dunn, with Mauro Formica and Radosav Petrovic thrown into the fray as their replacements.

When the second half started, it took just 42 seconds for the game to liven with Blackburn awarded a penalty when Formica went down after a challenge from Ross Barkley.

Junior Hoilett stepped up to take the kick but was denied by Howard, who dived to his right to effect the stop.

Rovers continued to attack with Martin Olsson and Formica going close with decent efforts as Everton struggled to find any rhythm.

Blackburn’s David Goodwillie replaced Roberts, and the substitute almost made an immediate impact when Hoilett and Formica combined well inside the box to pick out the Scotsman, who smashed his shot against the bar.

With five minutes to go Formica went down under pressure from Phil Jagielka and Rovers were awarded their second penalty of the afternoon.

But the hosts again failed to find the back of the net as Formica smashed his kick onto the post.

But the home fans’ disbelief turned to despair as Everton were awarded a penalty when Samba was adjudged to have fouled Fellaini.

Arteta was handed the responsibility of claiming all three points, and the Spaniard coolly slotted the penalty to leave Rovers still searching for their first points of the season.