Everton, Spurs through

Everton striker Romelu Lukaku (R) scores the opening goal against Wolfsburg during their Europa League encounter in Wolfsburg on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Premier League duo Everton and Tottenham Hotspur both won to clinch qualification for the knockout phase of the Europa League on Thursday, while Celtic also progressed despite losing at home to Salzburg.

The Toffees secured their place in the last 32 as winners of Group H with an impressive 2-0 victory away to Bundesliga high-fliers VfL Wolfsburg in Germany.

Tottenham advanced from Group C thanks to a 1-0 win at home to Serbian league leaders Partizan Belgrade and a 3-1 loss to Salzburg in Glasgow could not prevent Celtic from going through with a game to spare.

Everton knew halfway through their own game that they were through to the last 32 as news filtered in that the other match in Group H between FC Krasnodar and Lille in Russia had ended in a 1-1 draw.

And goals from Belgian duo Romelu Lukaku and Kevin Mirallas secured a handsome victory for the Blues as they extended their unbeaten run to eight matches and guaranteed top spot in the section.

Sylvain Distin hit the bar early on for Everton before Ivan Perisic had the ball in the net at the other end only for a wrong offside call to deny Wolfsburg the goal.

The visitors then lost James McCarthy to a hamstring injury after only half an hour but Martinez's side opened the scoring two minutes before the interval with a classic counter-attacking goal following a Wolfsburg corner.