Everton will no longer be able to rely on Goodison Park to protect the club’s Premier League status.
That is the grim reality after a lacklustre display in an important game lost to a Fulham side that had imploded since its chaotic FA Cup defeat to Manchester United a month ago. Yet despite facing opposition with little to play for, with its main goal threat suspended and its manager in the stands, Everton were second best.
All is not lost. But with just 27 points on the board and seven games to go, only three of which are at home, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see a survival run that does not feature wins on the road.
EVERTON RATINGS: Michael Keane and two others awful vs Fulham
LIVE REACTION: Everton 1-3 Fulham match updates and analysis
That has to be of real concern for a side that has won just three of its past 34 away league matches across this season and last. It can be done - few could forget the scenes at Leicester City after Everton secured a win that kept the club's fate in its own hands as the last campaign entered its final stages. And Sean Dyche has instilled a belief in his players that anything is possible, one that was key to recent away draws at Nottingham Forest and Chelsea. But pressure will stalk Everton across the country, to Selhurst Park, to the Amex, to Molineux and again to the King Power Stadium.
This is the case after a game that was perilously close to being a 'must win' turned into a nightmare. For the second consecutive game Dyche lined up with a 4-4-2 formation. For a second consecutive game Everton looked exposed, despite the best efforts of James Garner, who was lively in the middle on his first league start as a Blue. Some of the changes were enforced - Seamus Coleman and Amadou Onana were absent through injury and Abdoulaye Doucoure was serving the second of his three game suspension for the red card received against Tottenham Hotspur. But the deviation from the 4-5-1 that had been crucial to Everton's competitiveness under Dyche was again a gamble that did not pay off.
Everton escaped with a warning when Harry Wilson fired straight at Jordan Pickford after James Tarkowski could only flick a ball across goal into his path. Minutes later they were not so lucky. Wilson, again with time and space on the Everton left, cut inside and shot from the edge of the box. His effort hit the post and, in the scramble that followed, Harrison Reed took advantage.
The goal forced Dyche to react. And when he did it felt as though his changes would alter the outcome of this game. Demarai Gray moved out wide and Alex Iwobi into the middle as Everton turned to five in the middle. There was an instant impact. Idrissa Gueye halted a Fulham attack, Garner picked up the loose ball and drove at Fulham before threading a ball to Dwight McNeil, whose low, left-footed strike from 20 yards brought the game level and appeared to create a platform from which Everton could mount a challenge for a crucial three points.
For the final 10 minutes of the first half, and the first five minutes of the second, this was a different game. Everton had the momentum and the chances - the best seeing Neal Maupay denied by Bernd Leno after an intricate move between the striker, Iwobi and McNeil.
But as the second half continued, Fulham grew back into the game. It increasingly appeared as though Everton's temporary dominance had come from a drop off from the away side. Once Fulham decided this was a game was worth winning, Everton could do little to stop them. The second came when the visitors were allowed too much space and time down Everton's left. A deep cross drifted over the head of Ben Godfrey and to Willian beyond the back post, who was able to tee up Wilson.
Chances continued to flow but only in one direction. Andreas Pereira forced a save from Pickford after being picked out on the edge of the area from a Fulham corner and the same player had another strike deflected over as he was again afforded freedom on the edge of the Everton box. The fatal blow soon followed though. Daniel James was a diminutive figure in comparison to the Everton centre back pairing of Tarkowski and Michael Keane. But when they allowed a ball over the top to drop it was James who brought it down before rolling the ball into the back of the net.
Twenty five minutes followed but Everton offered little hope they would find a way back into this match. When the final whistle sounded the empty seats told a story. At the pre-match press conference on Thursday, Dyche acknowledged for Goodison to be a fortress the players had to play their part: "It is not just a one-way street this", he said, "the players have to use their energy but then give the energy to the fans".
What happened on the pitch against Fulham offered little inspiration for those off it though. At the end of this match it was the away end that was staying late to celebrate. Everton will likely need to create similar occasions for its own travelling support if they are to find a way out of trouble.
READ NEXT
- Everton player ratings as Michael Keane and two others awful vs Fulham
- Everton's luck runs out on Grand National day and it could have terrifying consequences
- What Sean Dyche has done at Finch Farm to ensure Everton avoid Man United repeat
- Everton supporters are crucial to the strength of the club and Sean Dyche knows this
-
Sean Dyche pays touching tribute to Hillsborough victims on 34th anniversary
