Fulham reached the semi-finals of the League Cup for the first time in their history as Marco Silva, and penalty shootouts, returned to torment Everton yet again. The former Everton manager has won all three visits to Goodison Park since being sacked in 2019 and the latest, courtesy of the finest of margins, condemned his old club to a fourth exit on penalties in six seasons.
Sean Dyche’s inform side appeared to have rescued the quarter-final when the substitute Beto cancelled out Michael Keane’s first-half own goal in the 82nd minute. And when Jordan Pickford, doing his utmost to distract every Fulham penalty taker, saved from Bobby De Cordova-Reid in the shootout, it gave Amadou Onana the chance to send Everton into the last four with their fifth and final penalty.
The moment got to the Belgium midfielder, who rolled a woeful spot‑kick into the grateful hands of Bernd Leno. In sudden death Onana’s midfield colleague, Idrissa Gana Gueye, struck a post. The Fulham defender Tosin Adarabioyo, superb throughout, sent the next one – the eighth – beyond the despairing grasp of Pickford and Silva had a slice of history to savour. But he wants more.
A delighted Fulham manager said: “Our players played with composure in a really tense cup tie. It was a huge moment when Bernd kept us in the tie with the save from Onana. It is not easy to keep composure in those circumstances. We have achieved something the club has never achieved in the past but we want more. The dream is to play at Wembley.” Whoever Fulham are handed in the semi-final draw on Wednesday will have reason to worry on the Cottagers’ form.
Fulham started sharply, their passing crisper and more precise than the wayward hosts, but once Dyche’s team found their rhythm after 20 minutes it was Everton who began to pose the greater threat.
Dwight McNeil was presented with the first genuine chance after James Garner released Dominic Calvert-Lewin with an exquisite pass. The winger found himself in a similar position to his winner at Nottingham Forest recently but fired just over Leno’s crossbar. Jarrad Branthwaite, impressing at left‑back, ghosted in behind Kenny Tete but headed Jack Harrison’s cross straight at the Fulham goalkeeper.
The home side appeared to have the contest under control when they let it slip with some careless defending. Keane, retained in central defence having impressed on his return at Burnley on Saturday, conceded a dangerous free-kick on the edge of his area when banging heads with Rodrigo Muniz. Willian rolled the set piece under the wall as it jumped – with no draft excluder lying behind it – and saw it miss by inches.
Almost immediately, Fulham and Willian were on the attack again. The menacing Muniz, in for the suspended Raúl Jiménez, did well to hold off James Tarkowski and find the veteran winger on the left. Willian released the former Everton trainee Antonee Robinson on the overlap, and into far too much space, and his low cross deflected off Keane’s chest and behind Pickford for a well‑worked but ultimately fortunate breakthrough.
Silva could argue that Fulham had earned their luck. Defensively, they were excellent. Adarabioyo and Calvin Bassey were a powerful, composed partnership in central defence while Robinson matched a ferocious work rate with attacking intent down the left. Everton appeared to be running out of ideas, perhaps as a result of Fulham’s committed defending, when Beto brought them level, heading home from close range after Garner’s effort looped up off Robinson.
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Tarkowski and Muniz were involved in an off-the-ball incident that, had VAR been in operation, could have led to the Fulham striker being sent off seconds before Silva substituted him. The Everton defender barged into Muniz as their paths crossed, sending him to the floor. He got up and kicked Tarkowski in the shins but, with the referee Graham Scott’s attentions elsewhere, escaped any punishment.
Arnaut Danjuma and the Fulham substitute De Cordova-Reid both went close to sealing victory in stoppage time and avoiding the need for a penalty shootout that Onana will long to forget. “Everyone has a style of penalty which they think can score,” Dyche said, defending his midfielder.
“His record has been very strong in all the rounds when we’ve practised them. That’s his style. If you are brave enough to get up there and take one then you have to be brave enough for the consequences.”
