From Hyde to Jekyll — Everton recover to earn fine win in the London sunshine

With this match moving into stoppage time at the end of the first half at Craven Cottage, it looked for all the world as though Everton’s pedestrian run-in to the summer was destined to continue, extending a disappointing recent sequence to just one win in 11. The travelling supporters had come determined to enjoy a beautiful spring day by the Thames regardless of the outcome but their team seemingly had their flip-flops on and thoughts of the beach in their heads, the need to impress the manager be damned.

The first 45 minutes were as poor as the rather underwhelming starting XI had suggested it might be and had it not been for a huge slice of fortune on the stroke of half-time, the Blues would have gone into the interval deservedly behind to Raul Jimenez’s 17th-minute header. David Moyes admitted afterwards that he was contemplating making changes during the break before Vitalii Mykolenko's deflected strike went in. 

To be fair to those who had been handed been given the nod from the start, the transformation in attitude and intensity had already begun before the manager made his first changes with an hour gone, but Dwight McNeil added purpose and creativity down the right and Carlos Alcaraz took the responsibility of being moved into the No 10 role once Abdoulaye Doucouré had gone off and played a vital role in all three goals that pushed Everton into an unassailable 3-1 lead with 17 minutes to go.

The Argentine has had to wait for his opportunity to shine in a starting role, particularly in his favoured position behind the striker, which he assumed after Iliman Ndiaye came on to play down the left, and it was his persistence that forced the corner for the equaliser, his shoulder-barge on Ryan Sessegnon that stopped the full-back from preventing a corner for Everton’s second, and his assist for Beto to drive in the third.

Moyes has, by his own admission, been trying to balance the need to fully assess the players currently at his disposal as he plans the transfer business ahead of his first full season back at Everton on the one hand with the desire to win matches in the meantime on the other.

He was forced into one change after Jake O’Brien picked up a minor knee injury and was ruled out but overall the team he picked, with Doucouré returning, Ashley Young deployed at right-back and Jack Harrison selected ahead of McNeil on the flank appeared functional at best.

And the pre-match grumbling by Evertonians who had witnessed just one victory since mid-February was vindicated by a sub-standard first 30 minutes during which Europe-chasing Fulham were allowed the ascendancy and a lead which could have been larger heading into first-half injury time had Alex Iwobi found the target or Jordan Pickford not superbly denied Harry Wilson.

The Cottagers’ midfielder was afforded all the space he needed to pepper Pickford’s goal with shots during the first period and after Jarrad Branthwaite had had an early effort blocked in a crowded box at one end, Wilson tested England’s No 1 for the first time in the fifth minute with a shot down the centre of the box.

Harrison’s cheap giveaway, the first of a slew by Everton players on the day, ended with Iwobi’s low drive being saved as well but with 16 minutes gone, Marco Silva’s side carved the Toffees open down their right side as Emile Smith Rowe got to the byline. His clipped cross was met by a towering header from Jimenez and a narrative that felt almost pre-determined began to play out.

Wilson curled wide from 25 yards out before Mykolenko’s awful pass was seized upon and Jimenez teed up Iwobi but the former Everton man shovelled his shot high and wide from a promising position. In between, the visitor’s best moment to that point had seen Alcaraz play Harrison in but he shot down Bernd Leno’s throat from the edge of the penalty area.

Then after Alcaraz had given up possession, Pickford was forced into action once more to palm Wilson’s deflected shot behind at full stretch as the first half was winding down.

Everton got the fillip they needed but didn’t really deserve three minutes later, however. Alcaraz pounced on a loose ball between two Fulham defenders and drove in on goal, Leno beating his shot behind for a corner. The German keeper got a fist to the resulting set-piece and when it dropped to Doucouré, he did well to protect the ball before laying it off to Mykolenko, the Ukrainian’s effort taking a big deflection off Andreas Pereira and into the goal past the wrong-footed Leno.

1-1 at the halfway stage, the match had a different complexion and with plenty of room for improvement from his charges, it was an opportunity for Moyes to inspire an uplift in the Blues’ performance in the second half. Everton responded and were much more competitive from the off.

Another good move saw Young clip the ball down the line to Harrison and when he found Beto, the Portuguese swept it square where the arriving Alcaraz was unfortunate to see his strike blocked by a defender.

A tidy team who are good on the ball and coached to be able to play through the lines, Fulham remained a threat and when Iwobi and Sessegnon exchanged passes in the 51st minute, it took Pickford getting his body in the way to keep the latter’s shot out.

And shortly afterwards, Pickford had to make amends for some poor positioning on his part to make a quite brilliant save to deny Wilson, clawing the former Liverpool man’s attempted lob behind for a corner and temporarily injuring his shoulder in the process.

Eight minutes after Ndiaye and McNeil had been introduced for Doucouré and Harrison, however, Everton turned the game on its head. Alcaraz ensured a deflection off Sander Berge would go for a corner with a robust charge on Sessegnon and when McNeil swung the dead ball deep to the back post, Michael Keane stole in untracked to power home a header.

Checks by Video Assistant Referee, Michael Salisbury, first for a foul on Leno by Alcaraz and then for offside against the same player were cleared and the Toffees had the lead, one they padded just three minutes later.

Beto, who missed a sitter at the death in this fixture last season but was enjoying his best outing for some time, won the ball on the touchline and passed in-field to Ndiaye. He in turn found Alcaraz who galloped into space ahead of him for slipping it between two defenders for Beto and, despatching an early shot with his powerful right foot, he benefited from an error from Leno who allowed the ball to slip underneath him and into his goal.

With Silva watching on from an isolated position in the stand as he served a touchline ban, the hosts tried to press in the closing stages but Everton, with the tenacious Tim Iroegbunam and Seamus Coleman (perhaps warming up for a run-out for Goodison's farewell against Southamptom) on as subs were in no mood to give up another two-goal advantage.

Jimenez planted a header inches off target with 13 minutes left and, deep into stoppage time, referee Darren England admirably upheld his own decision not to award a penalty for handball against Mykolenko despite being set to the monitor by Salisbury, but the Blues were never in danger of giving up points.

The result, rich reward for the terrific support throughout from the Evertonians packed into the away end and who sang their way loudly through the 90-plus minutes, handed Everton their first win in four games and moved them into 13th place in the Premier League.

After the frustration of tossing away victory against Ipswich last weekend, it gives Moyes’s men some momentum heading into what promises to be an emotional last-ever Premier League game at Goodison Park and, once again, plenty for the manager to consider with the summer transfer window in mind.