Sean Dyche: "We know we're not the real deal"
“I like Fulham a lot and I like what they do and how they go about it,” says the Everton manager in an interview with Sky Sports, after agreeing with Jamie Redknapp that Fulham were the better side. “They set their stall out and we didn’t. We were a long way short of where we can be and where we have been recently. We ended up getting a point and I’m really pleased with that.
“We know we’re not the real deal so it’s a case of finding different ways of operating to get a point or get a win, so on a day when we weren’t close to where I want us to be, we’ve got a point and kept going and the mentality has stayed strong.”
Marco Silva: "We controlled the game"
“We are disappointed,” says the Fulham boss in an interview with Sky Sports. “Everyone that was at Goodison or watched the game at home had the feeling that the best team was Fulham. We controlled the game from the first minute until the last minute. Great 30 minutes from us at the start, nothing really from them.
“In these type of games when you are much better and so superior to the other side, you have to score more. They were really lucky. We should have defended our box better. Our central defence should be closer to have an impact. The result was really unfair for my players. Unfortunately we didn’t win the game.”
Emile Smith-Rowe: “A real low blow today, we’re really disappointed to concede in the last couple of minutes,” the Fulham midfielder tells the BBC. “I thought we dominated today which is really annoying, so not happy.
“It’s really difficult, I thought we dominated at times and implemented the game plan really well and in the last few minutes you have to stay switched on and we didn’t today.
“I had a really slow first half, so it was important for me to get on the ball in the second half and inject something into the game. It was a good goal by Alex [Iwobi] as well so I was happy with that but disappointed with how it ended today.”
Everton 1-1 Fulham
Premier League match report: The second-half substitute Beto left it late to rescue a point for Everton after Alex Iwobi had returned to Goodison Park to haunt his former club. Andy Hunter reports from Merseyside …
Beto: ““For the supporters as well, they’ve supported me,” he says. “They’re always singing my name. As a player you just want to pay it back. I always put it in my mind to be ready as the day may come. And today it came. I’m happy to help the team, to help the Toffees. I will enjoy this one tonight, me and the team. Tomorrow is a day off.”
I’m not sure Everton’s fans are always singing his name, at least not in a particularly complimentary way, but they might sing it more often from here on in.
Beto: “It means too much to me, because I work hard,” says Everton’s unlikely hero. “Even if I don’t play I still work hard. I put my head up every week, every day I want to try to improve and to be better. To be able to help the team, for me it’s emotional because these last weeks were really difficult for me. God helped me and here I am today, happy because I scored a goal.”
Michael Keane: “It was a tough game,” says the Everton defender in an interview with Sky Sports. “They had a lot of the ball and we struggled to get a press on them. They had a lot of the ball but Beto comes on in the second half, I end up going up top just to try something different really because we didn’t create much today. Luckily, the big man was there to put one away.”
Full time: Everton 1-1 Fulham
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeeep! Beto’s introduction was booed by Everton fans but the Guinea-Bissau international came up trumps deep in added time to rescue a point for his side with his fourth goal for the club.
His header cancelled out a fine opener by Alex Iwobi, who had put Fulham ahead with a fine strike from the edge of the penalty area after excellent work by Emile Smith-Rowe. Fulham will see this as two points dropped after dominating for long periods but for Everton, it’s very much a point gained.
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90+6 min: Harrison Reed sends a free-kick from deep into the Everton box, where Michael Keane leaps highest to head clear. The referee blows for full-time and Everton have maintained an unbeaten run that now stretches to five games by the skin of their pearly-whites. It’s over at Goodison Park, where the points have been shared.
GOAL! Everton 1-1 Fulham (Beto 90+4)
Everton equalise! Oh my word! Ndiaye crosses to the far post from the left, Ashley Young steers a volley back across the face of goal and Beto is quickest to react. He heads home from close range to level the score.
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90+2 min: Fulham double-substitution: Rodrigo Muniz and Jorge Cuenca on for Jimenez and Iwobi. It’s Cuenca’s Premier League debut after two appearances in the Carabao Cup.
90+1 min: We’re into six minutes of extras, with Fulham on the ball as they try to close this game out.
90 min: Beto leaps to get his head to a cross from the left but under pressure from Bassey, is unable to get too much purchase on his header. Leno gets down to save fairly comfortably.
89 min: It’s kitchen sink time for Everton, whose promising finish to the first half has not been replicated in the second. Fulham have been in the ascendency since the break and should probably be further ahead.
87 min: Beto stumbles into the Fulham penalty area with the ball at his feet and is off balance when he shoots. His effort is blocked but he wins a corner from his side. Nothing comes of it.
85 min: No, he is not. He retires to the bench and is replaced by Jarrad Brantwaithe, who comes on for only his second appearance of the season. The gods above Goodison give with one hand and take away with the other.
84 min: There’s a break in play while Dwight McNeil receives treatment for what looks like a knee injury. He looks OK to continue.
82 min: Lindstrom curls a shot goalwards from the edge of the Fulham penalty area after good work from Ndiaye on the left wing. It’s straight at Leno and doesn’t take much saving.
80 min: Everton double-substitution: Beto and Orel Mangala on for Doucoure and Calvert-Lewin. The Goodison Park faithful are unimpressed with those changes.
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79 min: Fulham double-substitution: Harrison Reed and Harry Wilson on, Emile Smith-Rowe and Andreas Pereira off.
77 min: Fulham have a shot blocked and the ball drops Jimenez’s way on the edge of the Everton penalty area. He chests it down and tries to volley it into the top corner but his effort fizzes over.
76 min: Tarkowski is booked for a challenge on Issa Diop as the Fulham centre-back went on a rampaging gallop upfield. The Everton centre-half is furious, as he believes Emile Smith-Rowe should have been penalised for a worse challenge on Idrissa Geuye a few moments previously. He might have a point.
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73 min: Nelson comes this close to getting to a speculative Periera pass in behind and it briefly looked as if the substitute might be able to hook the ball over the head on the onrushing Pickford. The bounce doesn’t go his way and the Everton goalkeeper claims.
71 min: Nelson sends a cross to the far post, where Iwobi tries to tee up Smith-Rowe. The Fulham midfielder can’t quite get on the end of his lay-off.
71 min: Reiss Nelson has taken up a position on the left wing for Fulham, with the goalscorer Iwobi moving to the other side.
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69 min: Fulham substitution: Reiss Nelson is on for Adama Traore. Everton substitution: Jesper Lindstrom on for Jack Harrison.
67 min: I have one job but somehow still managed to credit Fulham’s opener to Everton in the headline and for that I humbly apologise. The record has now been corrected but my toes will take a lot longer to uncurl.
65 min: Antonee Robinson runs on to a ball in behind from Iwobi and drills the ball across the face of goal. Jordan Pickford gets down to intercept and Everton scramble clear.
63 min: That was an excellent goal from Fulham, with Smith-Rowe rampaging through the Everton half, charging past three blue shirts and playing the ball inside to Iwobi, whose low finish was superb.
GOAL! Everton 0-1 Fulham (Iwobi 60)
Fulham lead! The celebration is muted but the finish was not. Iwobi scores against his former club, firing with precision into the bottom corner after Emile Smith-Rowe had slalomed upfield past three or four Everton defenders before playing the ball inside to his teammate.
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58 min: Kenny Tete fouls Calvert-Lewin to give away a cheap free-kick a long way out but McNeil’s delivery into the Fulham box is poor. Bernd Leno catches the ball under no pressure whatsoever.
56 min: Jack Harrison tries to cross from the right but his delivery is deflected off the outstretched foot of Robinson and loops up in the air. Fulham clear their lines.
56 min: Andreas Pereira tries his luck from outside the Everton penalty area but pulls his low diagonal effort wide of the far post.
54 min: Gueye is penalised somewhat harshly for bringing down Jimenez in the centre-circle. The duo were contesting a 50-50 ball and it seems like needlessly fussy officiating by John Brooks in a second half that has yet to spring into any kind of life.
53 min: Attendance watch: 38,742.
51 min: Fulham, who have yet to score from a set-piece this season, waste a corner and gift the ball back to Everton. Pereira and Smith-Rowe are the guilty men, the latter coughing up very cheap possession to Gueye.
49 min: Pereira tries to pick out Jiminez with a ball in behind from deep but the Fulham striker has to stretch to (mis)control the ball after bursting between two defenders. Pickford is a grateful beneficiary of his poor touch.
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47 min: It’s a scrappy start to the second half and Adama Traore is penalised for a needless shove on Myolenko down by the byline. The two of them are having an intriguing battle which the Fulham winger is just about edging on my scorecard.
46 min: Michael Keane plays the ball back to Jordan Pickford after Antonee Robinson had played a speculative through ball in behind the Everton defence.
Second half: Everton 0-0 Fulham
46 min: Dwight McNeil gets the second half under way for Everton, who are playing into the Gwladys Street End.
Half-time: Everton 0-0 Fulham
Dominic Calvert-Lewin had the ball in the net for Everton, only to have his tap-in ruled out for offside after Idrissa Gana Gueye had smashed a wonderful shot off the underside of the bar from 25 yards out. Dwight McNeil will also feel he should have scored for Everton, after Mykolenko teed him up with an excellent cross.
Fulham have gone close too, with Emile Smith Rowe, Adama Traore, Andreas Pereira and Alex Iwobi all passing up chances ranging from the half-decent to the excellent. This game is there for the taking.
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44 min: A Traore cross from the right is chested down by Jimenez into the path of Iwobi, who’d shouted at him to leave it for him, at the far post. Leaning back as he shoots, the Fulham midfielder fires over the bar from about five yards. Yet another excellent chance goes to waste but at least Traore is starting to get some decent crosses in. It’s half-time.
42 min: An Adama Traore cross from the right is too high for Raul Jiminez but drops kindly for Smith-Rowe at the far post. Perhaps caught unawares, his first touch is woeful and he runs the ball out of play.
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38 min: Mykolenko sends an inch-perfect whipped cross from the left into the path of Dwight McNeil, who sends a thumping header straight at Bernd Leno. He should have scored!
36 min: The game drags itself up the Match of the Day pecking order as Tete fires over for Fulham, then Calvert-Lewin is denied again, this time by some good defending from Sander Berge. This is much better from both sides.
34 min: That looked close. I thought Calvert-Lewin was just about being played onside by Kenny Tete but the curtain-twitchers in Stockley Park got their rulers and set-squares out before agreeing with the onfield decision.
30 min: Ndiaye takes on Tete down the left flank and plays the ball inside to McNeil. It finds its way to Idrissa Gueye, who smashes the ball against the bar from distance. It breaks to Calvert-Lewin, who spanks it home on the follow-up, only for his effort to be ruled out for a very tight offside.
Updated
28 min: Adama Traore tries his luck, smashing a shot towards the near post only to be denied by Pickford. Everton fail to clear the ball and a cross towards the far post is headed back across the face of goal towards Smith-Rowe by Jiminez. The Fulham midfielder has to stretch and is unable to keep his volley down and fires over the bar.
26 min: Adama Traore gets the better of Myolenko by the right touchline but his cross into the Everton penalty area is dismal. The ball bounces in front of Michael Keane, who hacks clear.
23 min: Iliman Ndiaye wins a cheap free-kick for Everton wide on the left a long way out, going to ground under minimal contact from Tete. Dwight McNeil sends the ball into the penalty area, where Alex Iwobi is able to steer a header towards Leno.
20 min: Tete tries to play Traore in behind the Everton defence with a pass to the byline but overhits his delivery and sends the ball out for a goal-kick. It’s that kind of game.
18 min: Sander Berge slips while trying to control a dropping ball in a central area and inadvertently touches it with his hand. The referee waves play on.
16 min: While it’s far too early to call it definitively, this match already looks to be a prime candidate for “Last on the Match of the Day running order”. Truth be told, it was almost certainly among the favourites before a ball had been kicked this weekend. Brentford 4-3 Ipswich Town is currently the one to beat for top billing.
14 min: Another curled Mykolenko ball from deep into the Fulham penalty area is headed clear by Antonee Robinson. The American really put his back – and his head, obviously – into that one.
12 min: Jiminez and Pereira link up just outside the Everton box and for reasons best known to himself, the Brazilian eschews a shooting opportunity with the ball sitting up nicely for him, the goal at his mercy and Tarkowski off balance in front of him. A good chance goes to waste for Fulham.
11 min: Pereira plays the ball out wide to Adama Traore but overhits his pass, fails to find the Fulham winger and sends it out for a throw-in.
9 min: Everton fans appeal for a penalty after Calvert-Lewin goes to ground claiming he’d been fouled by Bassey. There was contact, but gravity had got the better of the Everton striker before Bassey arrived on the scene.
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7 min: Kenny Tete swings a cross into the Everton boss from the right. Raul Jimenez gives Tarkowski a nudge to make room for himself but shoots weakly into the gloves of Jordan Pickford.
On current form you’d expect the Mexican international to do better, although VAR might have intervened if he’d scored because he did seem to shove Tarkowski.
5 min: Mykolenko tries to curl a pass from deep into the path of Dominic Calvert-Lewin but slightly overhits his delivery. Calvin Bassey cleans up at the back for Fulham.
4 min: It’s eerily quiet inside Goodison Park in these very early stages, as both teams try to suss each other out.
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3 min: Iliman Ndiaye puts the ball out of play for a Fulham throw-in while trying to link up with Mykolenko down the left touchline. He was operating in a very tight space, so we won’t be too critical.
2 min: Andreas Pereira throws himself to the ground just outside the Everton penalty area after a very minor coming-together with Vitaliy Mykolenko. He’s chancing his arm and the referee is having none of it.
Everton v Fulham is go ...
1 min: Fulham get the ball rolling and it doesn’t take long to find its way back to the feet of their goalkeeper, Bernd Leno.
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Goodison Park remembers: In an otherwise silent stadium, Sergeant Andy Manning plays The Last Post after members of assorted British military forces march out on to the pitch to lay commemorative wreaths.
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Not long now: The players make their way out on to the pitch and with this being Everton’s final home game ahead of Remembrance Sunday, team captains Bernd Leno and James Tarkowski will lay poppy wreaths in the centre-circle ahead of the usual pre-match formalities.
The Premier League table: Today’s results, not least Brentford’s whiteknuckle win against Ipswich Town, means that Fulham go into this match in 12th place, while Everton remain in 16th.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin: With his contract due to expire at the end of the season, the Everton striker is showing no great inclination to sign a new one and looks set to leave the club on a free transfer at the end of the season unless the club decide to sell him in January to recoup some money.
However, Sean Dyche has ruled out the possibility, saying survival in the Premiership is worth more than any funds that might be generated by the sale of the striker.
“The bigger prize in this case is Premier League football for Everton Football Club,” said the manager. “You know when I came in it was like you need to safeguard what we’re doing, so that’s the No 1 priority. Along that journey and timeline we’ve had to obviously bring money in. That’s been quite apparent and spend less and bring more in, lower the wages of course.
“But to be giving players away at any cost because you need some money, fortunately we’ve never been pushed that far and that’s still the same now. We can still make decisions on situations and I can’t see anything other than him being here certainly until the end of his contract and then hopefully beyond. We’ll see.”
Marco Silva: Having spent a little over 18 months in charge of Everton from June 2018 and taken to them to an eighth place finish in the Premier League, Marco Silva is likely to get a warm welcome on what is likely to be his final visit to Goodison Park this afternoon ahead of the club’s move to their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.
The Fulham manager remembered his time at Goodison Park fondly when the subject was raised at his press conference yesterday. “It was an honour to manage a club like Everton,” he said. “I’m not the first or last, for sure, to say that because when you are there, you can feel how it’s a big club, how they have a massive fan base.
“It’s a historic [stadium], an old school one as well and there’s something special around the place. You can feel it. As a home manager, you can feel it more because it’s week-in, week-out. Even when you go there playing away you can feel it as well. It’s a special place to play.”
Today’s match officials
Referee: John Brooks.
Assistants: Simon Bennett and Darren Cann.
Fourth official: Leigh Doughty.
VAR: Stuart Attwell.
Assistant VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis.
Those teams: Jarrod Brantwaithe returns from a thigh injury to take his place on the bench for Everton, who are unchanged from the side that beat Ipswich last weekend.
Marco Silva makes one change to the side that lost against Villa and it’s enforced: Issa Diop comes in for Joachim Anderson, who is suspended.
Everton v Fulham line-ups
Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Gueye, Doucoure; Harrison, Ndiaye, McNeil; Calvert-Lewin
Subs: Virginia, Patterson, Mangala, Beto, O’Brien, Coleman, Lindstrom, Branthwaite, Armstrong
Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, Diop, Bassey, Robinson; Berge, Pereira; Traore, Smith Rowe, Iwobi; Jimenez
Subs: Benda, Cuenca, Sessegnon, Reed, Cairney, King, Wilson, Nelson, Muniz
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Marco's men. 📋#EVEFUL pic.twitter.com/yZOTPTcPT5
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) October 26, 2024
Your Toffees to face Fulham! 🔵⚪️#EVEFUL pic.twitter.com/nN4cHQP93p
— Everton (@Everton) October 26, 2024
Early team news
Fulham central defender Joachim Anderson sits this one out on the Naughty Step after being sent off against Aston Villa last time out, while defensive midfielder Sasa Lukic and right-back Timothy Castagne both remain sidelined. Carlos Vniicius and Jorge Cuenca are both due to be assessed ahead of kick-off but neither player is likely to start.
Everton are without James Garner, who is suffering from a back injury, while Armando Broja, Tim Iroegbunam and Youssef Chermiti remain sidelined. Central defender Jarrad Brantwaithe and midfielder Jesper Lindstrom will both be included in today’s matchday squad after recovering from injury and illness respectively.
Premier League: Everton v Fulham
Goodison Park is the venue for this evening’s set-to between Everton and Fulham, where the hosts will attempt to make it five top flight games without defeat following a dreadful start to the season that saw them lose their opening four games.
They entertain a Fulham side that arrive on the back of consecutive defeats at the hands of Manchester City and Aston Villa, although it could legitimately be argued they deserved to take a point from at least one, if not both of those matches. Kick-off on Merseyside is at 5.30pm but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
