Everton had stirred under Sean Dyche, raising their hopes of a second successive escape from relegation but Goodison Park was shaken by the grim realisation that the Championship may be beckoning after all. Fulham cruised back to winning ways as Marco Silva’s side left his former club hovering precariously above the drop zone with three home matches to play.
The sight of Everton fans streaming for the exits after Dan James scored Fulham’s third was apt for a team that was resigned to its fate. Ensuring that resignation lasts for only one abysmal performance is the ominous challenge that now confronts Dyche. “A step backwards,” said the Everton manager. “The mentality has shifted since we came in but today it reverted back. We were lackadaisical after going behind to their second goal and that can’t happen.”
Without the suspended Aleksandar Mitrovic and Silva watching from the directors’ box, Fulham ended a run of five successive defeats in comprehensive style. Harrison Reed, Harry Wilson and James made light of the Serb centre-forward’s absence to score with ease against a frequently exposed Jordan Pickford. Everton, manager and players alike, were clueless as to how to stem the flow of white shirts slicing them to pieces in the second half. With Newcastle and Manchester City among the final three visitors to Goodison this was a must-win fixture for Dyche. They blew up spectacularly.
On the 34th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster there was an impeccably observed minute’s silence before kick-off in memory of the 97 Liverpool fans who were unlawfully killed due to gross negligence by South Yorkshire police. The Fulham manager, accompanied by players Tom Cairney and Tim Ream, laid wreaths at the Anfield memorial on Friday night. Dyche, who was at Hillsborough on that dreadful day as a member of Nottingham Forest’s youth team, wore a black armband.
The visitors started brightly, the hosts woefully, with Willian and Antonee Robinson prospering down the left. An inevitable breakthrough arrived when Andreas Pereira switched play to Wilson and the recalled Vitalii Mykolenko showed the winger inside on to his favoured left foot. The former Liverpool player curled a powerful shot against the base of a post. James beat James Garner to the rebound and, with the Everton defence static, his touch fell to Reed who sent a convincing finish into the bottom corner.
Whatever Everton’s gameplan was – and beyond sending long balls up to two small forwards in Neal Maupay and Demarai Gray it was hard to identify one at all – it was not working. Dyche abandoned his 4-4-2 system to match Fulham’s 4-2-3-1 after 33 minutes, dropping Gray to the left, switching Dwight McNeil to the right and Alex Iwobi in behind Maupay. Two minutes later Everton were level. Idrissa Gana Gueye dispossessed João Palhinha and Garner, starting in place of the injured Amadou Onana, fed McNeil. The Everton winger breezed away from Reed and drilled a precise shot into Bernd Leno’s bottom corner from 20 yards.
Everton were transformed by the manager’s tactical change and dominated the remainder of the half. Maupay should have edged the home side ahead after exchanging passes with McNeil and working his way free into the penalty area. The hapless striker had only Leno to beat but delayed his shot before placing it too close to the keeper who saved with his chest. Gray was inches away from finding the far corner with a flick on a dangerous cross from McNeil.
Any semblance of improvement from Everton vanished in a truly abject second-half display that strengthened the case for relegation. Fulham tore through a passive Everton midfield and weak defence at will, meeting little resistance from two poor full backs in Mykolenko and Ben Godfrey. The visitors regained the lead when Pereira and Reed combined to release Kenny Tete. Godfrey missed the defender’s cross to the back post where Willian teed up Wilson for an emphatic finish past Pickford.
James made it three when Everton were undone by a simple free-kick from Tete. The forward, chased into the area by James Tarkowski and Michael Keane, brought the ball down with a superb first touch that took him away from the defenders. His second touch was rolled beyond the Everton goalkeeper, prompting the mass exodus.
“I don’t need one football match to prove anything,” said Silva, sacked as Everton manager in 2019. “I have to keep improving for myself and for Fulham. I’m really pleased with what we did in the second half. We were clearly the best team on the pitch. We showed personality and character.” His old club showed none
