A run of just one win in eight in all competitions in a season that looked early on as though it might over-deliver in terms of what was expected at the end of the last one had put Everton’s fanbase in the doldrums.
On the face of it, the 1-1 draw at Sunderland last Monday represented a decent enough point on the road against a side that had started their campaign in surprisingly impressive fashion, but the context of that game — the Blues playing as well for the first half hour as they had since August before falling away in galling fashion and registering just one more shot on goal — was what made it so disappointing.
Coming on the back of frustrating home draws against Aston Villa and West Ham and then defeats to Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham, it dumped Everton back into 14th place and seemingly set the tone for more mid-table grind tinged with the fear that things could get dicey if this edition of the Premier League continues to be so competitive from first to 19th place. (Sorry, Wolves!)
Given that we’re a little over a quarter of the way done, the visit of Fulham this weekend wasn’t quite “must win” in that sense but it was massively important in terms of psychology. Sitting two points above the relegation zone heading into the final international break of the calendar year would have felt an awful lot worse than being just three shy of the European places.
How uplifting it was then to see David Moyes’s men not only serve up a commendable all-round performance, their most complete of 2025/26 so far, but put the ball in the net five times and register a welcomely comfortable victory over the Cottagers, the kind that you'd hope will become routine. Perhaps only a more thorough inquest from VAR Stuart Attwell into the Toffees’ third disallowed goal of the day and a first legitimate strike for Thierno Barry would have made a good day almost perfect. But we’ll take the victory.
Barry was rightly handed another chance to break his Everton duck after being hooked for Beto after 55 minutes at the Stadium of Light five days ago and though he did bulge the net, his celebrations were cut short by the first of three offside calls from linesmen whose arms seemed to be spring-loaded at times.
His wait to get off the mark goes on and though he was visibly gutted to be substituted in the 78th minute, he left the Hill Dickinson Stadium pitch to warm applause from the faithful following his best outing yet since arriving from Villarreal over the summer.
By that stage, Everton were a goal to the good thanks to Idrissa Gueye’s close-range strike and three minutes later Michael Keane scored the killer second as the hosts markedly improved the mood on the Blue side of Merseyside for the time being.
Until 2020, Everton at home to Fulham was as lopsided as it gets, with the Blues winning 22 straight before the Covid season signalled a shift in the West London club’s favour that saw them win two and draw one of the next three… although it took a stoppage-time equaliser from Beto last term to deny them the hat-trick.
If Marco Silva’s team travelled north hoping to spark their own campaign after an underwhelming start, they found an opposition determined to get back to winning ways at Bramley-Moore Dock and make amends for letting two points slip in the northeast last time out.
The key was starting very much on the front foot with the kind of tempo that was often lacking against Villa and the Hammers and then maintaining it for most of the 90 minutes. Very much helping in that regard were Moyes’s decision to switch the superbly versatile James Garner to right-back on the one hand and hugely improved performances from Gueye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in midfield on the other.
The latter drew particular criticism for the manner in which his personal display fell off a cliff against the Black Cats but this afternoon he was excellent on both sides of the ball, all probing passes, slick interchanges and tenacious ball retrieval. He should have been rewarded with his second goal for the club early in the second half but, like James Tarkowski, he would be frustrated by an offside flag.
If his last couple of starts by the Mersey suggested Barry was several levels below Premier League readiness, he seemed to be determined today to prove otherwise. He was in the thick of things early on, just failing to get in ahead of Calvin Bassey to reach a Dewsbury-Hall cross in the second minute and powering a header over shortly afterwards from Iliman Ndiaye’s whipped cross.
And it was the Frenchman’s delightful chest off to KDH that led to the latter being bundled over by Saša Lukić and Bernd Leno having to dive to his right and parry away Garner’s accurate 30-yard drive from the resulting free-kick.
10 minutes before half-time, however, after Fulham’s only genuine forays around the Everton box had yielded an Alex Iwobi header from distance and a similarly tame effort by Raul Jimenez, the Blues thought they had broken the deadlock.
A nice move that saw Pickford pick Jack Grealish out with a pin-point ball, the on-loan winger feed Dewsbury-Hall inside who found Gueye in turn on the overlap down the opposite flank ended with Barry converting from close range. Unfortunately, Ndiaye had crept beyond Bassey as the ball came across and the goal was immediately chalked off.
Then, after Lukić had benefited from referee Andy Madley’s lenience when he tripped Dewsbury-Hall but escaped a second yellow, Everton had the ball in the net again. This time it was Tarkowski volleying home in similar fashion to his previous goal, against Liverpool in that famous last Goodison derby, after Leno had stopped Keane’s header but the former centre-half had been in an offside position when he won the original ball from Grealish’s curling cross.
The opening goal would come before the interval, though, and Tarkowski was involved again. Tim Iroegbunam, making the most of his opportunity in midfield with a solid outing, did well to keep the ball in the Fulham box and lay it off to Vitalii Mykolenko. His clipped delivery was met by Tarkowski but when his header came back off the crossbar, Iroegbunam’s scuffed effort on the turn was blocked by Joachim Andersen before Gueye arrived to poke it home from close range.
Fulham’s best spell of the game came straight after the restart for the second period after Josh King had been introduced for Lukić. It was the young forward who was played in behind and Pickford had to beat away his dangerous cross from the left and King again who drove into space and played in Harry Wilson a minute later. Thankfully, after the former red cut inside and pulled the trigger, his heavily deflected looped onto the roof of the net.
With 52 minutes gone, Everton had the ball in the net for the fourth time on the day, and this time it was Dewsbury-Hall wheeling away initially in delight after driving a shot through a crowded box and into the far side of the goal. This time, the rationale for the decision was far more contentious and worthy of more than the cursory glance the VAR appeared to give the incident where Barry, standing in an offside position, was deemed to be interfering with play by waving a leg in the direction of the ball but without making any contact.
It was very nearly a costly decision for Everton as Rodrigo Muniz, on for Jimenez for what ended up being just 17 minutes before he himself was forced off, was the recipient of more positive play by King but Pickford was equal to his shot from the angle, sticking out a foot to divert the ball to safety.
Ndiaye was in the right place to block from Kevin at the back post before the Toffeeman re-established control and eventually got their second goal with nine minutes left of the regulation 90 after Gueye had missed with a left-footer and Dewsbury-Hall had ended another lovely move with a rising shot that was always clearing the crossbar.
Merlin Röhl, Moyes’s choice to replace Iroegbunam after the former Aston Villa man had picked up a silly yellow card earlier in the half, won a corner on the right which was swung in by Dewsbury-Hall. The delivery was perfect for Keane who rose and ended up steering it over Leno and just under the bar with his shoulder.
Adama Traoré threatened to make a game of it quickly afterwards but Pickford got both gloves to his deflected drive and pushed it away while Andersen almost slid the ball into his own net at the other end late on as Grealish curled a dangerous ball in behind the visitors’ defence.
There is no question that this was Everton’s day. Afterwards, Silva bemoaned the fact that his side had really only performed for 20 minutes after half-time whereas Moyes could be well pleased with both the consistency his men showed over the 90-odd minutes and a first clean sheet since the goalless draw with Villa in mid-September.
The win sends the Blues into the two-week hiatus just outside the top half and, hopefully, in a more confident frame of mind ahead of a tricky run of games that include trips to Old Trafford and Bournemouth and home games against Newcastle and former boss Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest.
Everton Right-Back on Track
Functionality. It’s a word defined as the quality of being suited to serve a purpose.
Of course, as a fan, you want to see your team play with style but substance and functionality is the bedrock of good football. Without it, you’ll always struggle.
On Saturday at Hill Dickinson Stadium, Everton functioned much better than recent weeks. Sure, we’re still some way off this team being a well-oiled machine but putting James Garner at right-back allowed the Blues to move around the pitch more freely having been too rigid and restricted in previous matches.
Central defender James O’Brien has been an able deputy at full-back but it was always apparent that running up and down the flank was far from his natural game. Garner too is not a specialist right-back but certainly boasts the skillset required to slot in and work well in that position.
It made for an upturn, not necessarily in brilliant football, but in how Everton set-up. The game felt easier for the Toffees and there was a greater understanding across the pitch. There is still so, so much to fine tune but at last the balance felt more level.
James Tarkowski was much improved and some may point out that the defender looked more at ease and could better focus on his own job now that the backline didn’t feel as makeshift as before. He was a commanding and assured presence after a season beset by little errors that have at times proved costly. Michael Keane alongside him was sound once again and did his job well. For the goal, Tarkowski had two Fulham players hanging around his shoulders but simply took them with him when the corner came in and Keane headed home.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was in the game more and made Everton tick. Tim Iroegbunam, meanwhile, gave the midfield some extra bite alongside Idrissa Gana Gueye who was industrious, influential and covered plenty of ground. Iroegbunam though, is like an old iPhone at times. In minute one he’ll be fully charged but after an hour, you’ll suddenly realise he’s down to 1% and running on empty. It seems he can suffer a dramatic drop in energy in some games and suddenly the midfield gets overrun. Moyes was right to make the change when he did, bringing on Merlin Rohl to replace the tiring Iroegbunam.
Thierno Barry put in a very commendable performance up front and this was reflected in the fact he lasted 79 minutes on the pitch. He held the ball well and brought others in ably. Going down in pain after his strapping had seemingly come loose across his left shoulder was a reminder you don’t always know the full story when it comes to the knocks and niggles players are dealing with on a weekly basis.
Barry received a rousing ovation as he sauntered off the pitch to be replaced by Beto, more in acknowledgement of sticking in to keep going than anything else. Spotting the young forward may be despondent at being subbed, Gueye jogged over to give him a pat on the back and a well done for encouragement. It seems he may have also hinted to acknowledge the crowd who were clearly with him and behind him. It was good to see a senior player showing such leadership and recognising the need to give a team-mate a boost and backing.
Beto too, had a ball land right in front of him to run onto shortly after being introduced and it was moments like that which suggested it would be Everton’s day. It’s the type of pass the forward always wants and his endeavour led to the corner for the second goal.
The left side remains a problem with Mykolenko just not a natural foil for the talents of Jack Grealish. If Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar were on the same wavelength, Mykolenko and Grealish couldn’t be further apart. While the Ukrainian puts in plenty of effort, you can tell his brain is doing over time when it comes to working out where to run and when to run any time Grealish is in possession. From my seat in the South Stand, I could be wrong, but it feels like there are times Grealish simply doesn’t trust in Mykolenko enough to utilise him. For the time being, Grealish’s effectiveness and influence feels stunted at a time his immense quality should be flourishing. Left wing-back is a position which needs urgent attention when the next transfer window opens.
Saying that, this isn’t a team lacking confidence I don’t think. They have faith in each other. Jordan Pickford couldn’t hide his delight at pulling off sumptuous balls to play in Ndiaye and later Grealish. The likes of Gueye, Dewsbury-Hall and Barry all tried little flicks and balls around the corner when opportunities presented themselves. Three disallowed goals points to a team who regularly got into good positions today.
All in all, if this Everton team was a car and you were a mechanic, you’d still be wondering where the humming was coming from and struggling to put your finger on what was stopping the engine from purring. Saying that, it’s drivable and on the road. It may be that the din in the background continues to irritate us while the journey takes longer than first hoped.
Right now though, a team with Garner at right-back functions and means Everton can at last play with purpose.
An Everton season ticket holder and football writer, you can subscribe to all of Ell Bretland's work at https://ellbretland.substack.com