3 points at the Cottage

Everton win away at Fulham to do the double on them this season

It’s the day after another great away day, this time we come away with 3 points from Craven Cottage.

Fulham had a very good home record this season so we knew it would be a tough task but we also had a very good away record, we’ve not lost away in the league since December 13^th at Chelsea and since then we have been to Forest, Villa and Fulham and come away with maximum points and also since that Chelsea game we have been to Burnley and Brighton and shared the points.

I was very active on X in the days prior to the game speculating on what team we may see at Fulham, I also put out there what I wanted to see. Jarrad Branthwaite came in for our last game at Brighton as a left back due to Mykolenko having a knock. Of course, we know Branthwaite is a better centre back but the manager obviously doesn’t feel Adam Aznou is up to the task of standing in for Mykolenko. We know Branthwaite had been out all season until he came back as a substitute in the draw with Leeds at Hill Dickinson. Brighton saw us play with 4 centre backs from the start as Moye brought Michael Keane back into the team after his 3-match ban following his red card in the home draw with Wolves. Keane partnered James Tarkowski in the middle of the defence with Jake O’Brien as right back and Branthwaite as left back. It was a bit unfortunate on Nathan Patterson that as he had done OK in the games he had played at right back recently and unlike O’Brien, it is more natural for him. The 4 CB’s didn’t work as in. We didn’t keep Brighton out, they scored and then, as we will recall, we scored a late, late equaliser through Beto down at the Amex, which was deserved after our second half performance.

So Fulham saw us play 2 away games on the bounce, I wanted to see a team of Pickford, Patterson, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, N’Diaye, Garner, Gana Gueye, Tyrique George, Dewsbury-Hall & Barry but in my heart of hearts, I knew we were not going to get such a team and Moyes, true to form, put out a more, shall we say, solid, team with Pickford, O’Brien, Keane, Tarkowski, Mykolenko, N’Diaye, Garner, Gana Gueye, Armstrong, Dewsbury-Hall & Barry. Not a too dissimilar team to mine but he rested Branthwaite after he had been out for so long so wants to manage his minutes carefully, which I totally get but I just didn’t want Mykolenko in there because, I just haven’t been happy with his recent performances, starting with the horror show that was the 4-2 defeat at home to Brentford. Mykolenko had an eventful game at Fulham, more on that to come. Also, I wanted the new deadline day loan signee George straight in, he has played and scored in first team football this season for Chelsea, he may not have had tons of minutes but I thought he would be ready and offer us something different but alas, Moyes thought otherwise and went with Armstrong but on the left hand side.

We had a decent start to the game, we were on the front foot, where I think we expected Fulham to be. Overall though, the home team were the better team in the first half, it was very reminiscent of last week, that being a game of two halves. If Fulham would’ve taken their chances, they could have been out of sight before half time, at least 2-0 up. We hit the post following an O’Brien header off a corner but it was Fulham who made the breakthrough on the 18^th minute but it was very fortuitous, Raul Jimenez hit a shot that was saved by Pickford but as it came out it hit Mykolenko and crossed over the line to put the hosts into the lead.

Shortly after this they had another break and Samuel Chukwueze came very close to doubling their lead but Pickford pulled off another great save. Six minutes later, N’Diaye was dispossessed just outside our own 18 yard box and Emile Smith Rowe rattled a cracking shot towards our goal which had Pickford beaten all ends up but we were saved by the crossbar. On the 31^st minute, after sloppy play by us at the back, Fulham seized the chance to nick the ball, Smith Rowe crossed it to Jimenez, who turned well but luckily for us, fired his shot wide. Armstrong had a shot for us shortly after that just whizzed past the Fulham post, if it had been on target, the Fulham keeper Leno, wasn’t getting near it. On the 45^th minute Chukwueze hit a terrific shot from about 22 yards out but it hit the crossbar and flew over. So we got to half-time just the 1 goal down, how, I don’t know but we knew, we had to come out in the second half and do a lot better.

Fulham came close again on the 62^nd minute after a Chukwueze cross to Jimenez went wide, that man Mykolenko did just enough to put him off. We had a made a couple of substitutions, beto for Barry and George for Armstrong and the latter had an impact, after some good play, he threaded a ball through to Mykolenko who crossed it to Dewsbury-Hall who slotted it home in the 76^th minute and he celebrated in front of the amazing travelling away fans.

On 83 minutes, Dewsbury-Hall became provider, he took a corner, in front of our fans that O’Brien went up for but the Leno got there first but unfortunately for him and luckily for us, it came of his fist and into the goal to put us 2-1 up. That was pretty much it really, we saw the game out and came away with the 3 points. Some may say it was the proverbial smash & grab but I think we did well in the second half, I won’t deny, as I said earlier, Fulham could’ve been out of sight in the first half and former Everton manager Marco Silva who is not at the helm at Fulham, must have been wondering just how his team came away with nothing from the game. We have to take what we can, all teams will play games which they will deserve something out of but end up with nothing, it’s just the way it goes sometimes.

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Before the game, both teams were on 34 points with the same (-1) goal difference so we moved up to 7^th in the Premier League, but ended the night in 8^th after Brentford defeated Newcastle in the later kick-off.

8^th place though at this point in the season is great for us, we are missing Jack Grealish yes but other than that, we have our full compliment of players, was great to see just one goal keeper on the bench on Saturday rather than two and also missing from the bench was Dwight McNeil after his move to Crystal Palace fell through at the 11^th hour on transfer deadline day.

Maybe we can push for Europe, I think if we finished 8^th that would be enough to get a Europa Conference spot but it would be great if we made the Europa League wouldn’t it?

Next up is Bournemouth back at Hill Dickinson on Tuesday night. We need to improve our home form, too many draws and some horrible defeats to teams, I think at the time, we should’ve been beating, especially Spurs and Newcastle because we had all our players when we played them, we were very light when we lost to Brentford but still, it was an awful defeat, especially at home.

We have done the double over Forest and now Fulham, can we make it 3 doubles for the season on Tuesday as we have already beaten Bournemouth down at the Vitality which a 1-0 win following a Grealish goal?

As far as the team goes for that match, I am not going to try and predict what Moyes will do, I would, after redeeming himself at Fulham after the own goal, keep Mykolenko in and I would also like Patterson to come in to give us balance on the left and right. If they did play, the question would be what two centre backs would he go with, you’d think, as team captain, Tarkowski would play and if so, who would partner him, would he bring Branthwaite back in but in his natural position or would he go with O’Brien? We all know he is a fan of Keane, he has brought him back in twice after we had won the previous games and we failed to win either of those games he was brought back in for (Brentford/Brighton).

I hope George gets the nod to start on the left, with N’Diaye on the right, Dewsbury-Hall in the 10 and Barry up front, that could be very potent.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens, whatever the team the manager does go with, I hope we can get back to winning ways at Hill Dickinson, we have not won there since beating Forest way back on December 6^th and since then, at home we have played Arsenal (where we should’ve been awarded a penalty that wasn’t given by the referee or VAR but since then we had an apology from PGMOL chief, Howard Webb, no good that really), Brentford, Wolves and Leeds and only taken 2 points from them 4 games, not good enough really. We have to be the aggressors in the first half, don’t let teams come at us and then, try and fight back afterwards. If we can up our home form, with our decent away form, we really could be looking at European football next season.

Thanks for reading guys, as always, please share this with your Everton supporting friends on social media, I would appreciate it.

All the best and UTFT.