Gueye and Keane find the net as the Toffees defeat the Cottagers
David Moyes had stressed before the match against Fulham that the onus for scoring goals must not rest only on the team's strikers. “I demand more goals from my defenders and midfielders as well,” he stated. Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane rose to the occasion, delivering a well-earned victory over Marco Silva’s toothless side.
Everton’s second win in nine outings was largely untroubled as Fulham demonstrated the reason their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a short spell in the second half, the away side were kept quiet all match by Everton’s greater urgency and technical ability. Moyes’ team had three efforts ruled out for infringements, but a poacher’s finish from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and the defender's second-half header made sure there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.
No player needed a goal more than Thierno Barry, the Everton forward who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his big-money move from the Spanish side and spurned a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at Sunderland on Monday. The 23-year-old directed the first opportunity of the game over Bernd Leno’s goal frame when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.
Everton dominated the early exchanges and the visiting shot-stopper tipped over the midfielder's 30-yard free-kick, awarded after Sasa Lukic was booked for fouling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the identical opponent later in the half but the referee, the man in charge, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a second yellow. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, however, and withdrew the player at the break.
The striker believed his fortune had changed at last when arriving at the back post to turn in a low cross by Gueye. But the joy of a maiden strike was erased by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was in an illegal position when attacking Gueye’s cross, and failing to connect, and the VAR backed up the original call. Barry’s misfortune may have persisted in front of goal, but his all-round performance justified Moyes’ decision to stick with him. His movement and work-rate occupied Fulham’s central defenders and helped give the hosts the edge throughout.
Fulham grew into the game gradually with Sander Berge and the former Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi combining effectively in the engine room, but the first half threat from the away team was limited. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at Jordon Pickford when set up inside the area by his teammate and sent a set-piece from a dangerous position straight into the Everton wall. And that was it.
The Blues, driven on by the midfielder and Ndiaye, had a second goal chalked off for an infringement when the Fulham goalkeeper saved a effort from Keane and the captain fired home the rebound. The home captain had moved beyond the last defender when nodding down the winger's delivery in the build-up. But Everton’s next effort beating the keeper counted. Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a perfect ball to the back post when left unmarked on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender met it with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though Iroegbunam mishit the rebound, his teammate Gueye converted from point-blank. The relief inside the ground was palpable.
The home side had a further effort ruled out early in the second half after Dewsbury-Hall scored from a further excellent Mykolenko cross. Ndiaye had laid off the delivery into Barry, who was offside when challenging the Fulham defender for the ball that fell to the Everton midfielder. The team would have to wait until the 81st minute for the security of a second goal. Dewsbury-Hall was the creator with a set-piece that the defender directed over the goalkeeper. He did so with the back of his shoulder, and Fulham’s appeals for handball were rejected by VAR.
Silva’s side posed more danger following the substitutions of the forward, the Brazilian and the winger. Pickford saved well with his feet to deny Muniz finding the net with his initial involvement and stopped Traoré with another important stop late on.
