Everton 2-0 Fulham
by James Nalton
at Bramley-Moore Dock

EVERTON won the battle for mid-table at Bramley-Moore Dock on Saturday afternoon, eventually seeing off a Fulham side that have now lost five of their last six Premier League games.

It sent the Toffees further into a tightly packed group of teams, only five points above the relegation places, but also only five points from third-place Chelsea.

Local rivals Liverpool sit just three points above them, as do Manchester United, in this uncertain early table that is still working itself out.

Everton opened the scoring against Fulham when Idrissa Gana Gueye pounced on a loose ball after James Tarkowski’s header from a good Vitalii Mykolenko cross came back off the bar.

The ball initially fell to Tim Iroegbunam, who couldn’t sort his feet out in time to apply the finish, but he was still awarded the assist for touching the ball before Gueye swiped home.

David Moyes’s side pressed high and were strong in the tackle. The physical side sometimes spilled over at set pieces. Tarkowski and Calvin Bassey were booked for one particular confrontation, but for the most part, the challenges were hard but fair.

Sasa Lukic was lucky not to pick up a second yellow card for committing a foul to stop an Everton break, though. He had been booked for a very similar foul earlier in the game, but the referee decided to let him off. Fulham’s former Everton manager, Marco Silva, recognised the issue and substituted his midfielder at halftime.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall had led Everton’s defending from the front, tirelessly closing down the Fulham defence. It was his delivery from a corner inside the final ten minutes that sealed the win for Everton, with Michael Keane turning in the cross off his shoulder blade.

One of Everton’s big problems this season has been the lack of a reliable centre-forward. Saturday was Thierno Barry’s turn in the rotation that has taken place between him and Beto this season, and saw him start his second league game in a row for the first time.

Barry showed some promising signs among some more disappointing heavy touches. He was unlucky that Iliman Ndiaye was offside in the move that saw him find the back of the net for what would have been his first goal for the club.

Everton will feel they should have found their second goal earlier. A couple more were disallowed for offside, while Jordan Pickford made some good saves at the other end, as is often the case in a positive Everton performance.

He stopped a Rodrigo Muniz shot in a one-v-one situation and also saved a difficult deflected effort from Adama Traore.

Keane’s goal eventually eased the tension and secured the win, and took him level with striker Beto on two goals for the season.

A satisfying win for Everton that nevertheless reinforced the need for one of their strikers to start scoring.