Match Preview

It has to be said, financial woes aside, it's great being a Blue these days. It would be satisfying enough if we were confounding the critics merely by sitting comfortably mid-table a third of the way into the season. But to be riding high in third place in the Premiership with few signs so far that we're about to give up pride of place behind the front two is doubly gratifying.

The visit of an unpredictable Fulham offers another opportunity to consolidate that position, representing as it does another "should win" game. The morale-boost of having triumphed at Birmingham despite not playing particularly well will only add fuel to the Blues' confidence.

David Moyes looks able to name his first choice XI once more after Marcus Bent came through last weekend's game without incident.

That leaves the usual jostling for a place on the bench. Joseph Yobo's apparent ankle injury sustained late on Friday last week could sideline him again amid escalating rumours that he will be sold in January and Kevin Campbell remains a doubt after also missing out last week.

Gary Naysmith came through another 90 minutes for the Reserves midweek but finds his way blocked by Alessandro Pistone but could make the bench again if Yobo is ruled out.

Fulham come to Goodison on the back of a 4-1 thumping by Chelsea at Craven Cottage last weekend but scored four goals past Newcastle in their last Premiership away game and against Nottingham Forest in the Carling Cup, so they are both susceptible to conceding but also possess firepower up front. In all competitions they have won their last three away from home, reason enough for Everton to be wary.

This game not only reunites Tomasz Radzinski with Goodison Park for the first time since his acrimonious departure over the summer, which will add spice to what is traditionally a bad-tempered encounter. For those keeping score, both he and his replacement, Marcus Bent, have scored five goals so far this season, but four of Radzinski's have come in the Cup, while four of Bent's were scored in the Premiership.

Oh, and the referee is none other than Mr anti-Everton himself, Graham Poll. The Poll factor on its own is enough to swing a match against us — how on earth is he still considered a top flight referee?

Lyndon Lloyd

Matchday Stats

This will be the 40th meeting between Everton and Fulham in all competitions, and the 21st at Goodison Park.  This match will be the 7th meeting in the Premier League and the 4th at Goodison.

Everton's full record against Fulham is:

Our record at Goodison Park against Fulham is:

The last match between the sides was on 4 February this year in a replay in the FA Cup 4th round at Loftus Road, which Fulham won 2-1.  The last match between the sides at Goodison Park was the original 4th round tie on 25 January this year, when a last minute Francis Jeffers goal saw the sides draw 1-1.  The last Premier League match between the sides was on 10 January this year when Fulham won 2-1 at Loftus Road.  The last Premier League match at Goodison Park was on 23 August 2003 when Everton won 3-0 with the goals coming from Gary Naysmith, David Unsworth and Steve Watson.  In fact, in every Premier League match between the sides, the home team has always won.  Also, Everton have never lost a league match against Fulham at Goodison Park.

There have been 2 Everton hat-tricks against Fulham.  The last was on 11 May 1963 when Roy Vernon grabbed 3 goals in a 4-1 victory at Goodison Park.  Prior to this, Harry Catterick scored a hat-trick on 7 October 1950, in Everton’s 5-1 victory at Craven Cottage.

The most common victory for Everton is shared between 1-0 and 2-0, which have happened 3 times each in Everton's 15 victories.  Fulham's most common victory is 2-1, which has happened 5 times in their 13 victories. The most common draw between the teams is 1-1, which has occurred 5 times in the 11 draws between the sides.

Everton's record for 20 November is:

This is the first time these sides have met on this day.  The last match on this day was in 1999, when Everton drew 1-1 with Chelsea at Goodison Park, with Kevin Campbell getting Everton’s goal.

Dave Watson was born on this day in 1961 in Liverpool.  Signed from Norwich City in August 1986, Dave went on to make 528 appearances for Everton, which is third on the list of all-time appearances for the club behind Neville Southall and Brian Labone.  Dave also scored 37 goals during his time with Everton, before he was released in August 2001.  During his eventful career with Everton Dave also managed the club in a caretaker role from March to May 1997.  He holds the club record for the longest time within a caretaker managerial role in the club and won 1 as well as drawing 1 of the seven games he was in charge.  Dave also won 6 of is 12 caps in total whilst at the club.

Tom Griffiths was in the Welsh side that was beaten 6-0 by England on this day in 1929.

Jimmy Hill won his final Northern Ireland cap as an Everton player on this day in 1963 against England, which England won 8-3.  On the same day, Alex Scott was in Scotland’s victorious side over Wales, the final score being 2-1.  Roy Vernon made his final appearance for Wales as an Everton player in this game.

On this day in 1985, Graeme Sharp was a Scottish substitute in their 2-0 victory over Australia.

Thomas Gravesen played for Denmark in their 2-0 victory over Poland on this day in 2002.  On the same day, Lee Carsley played in the Republic of Ireland’s 0-0 draw with Greece.  Gary Naysmith was also in the Scotland team on that day in their 2-0 defeat to Portugal.

Milestones that can be reached in this game:

·          If Duncan Ferguson starts the game he will be making his 150th start for Everton in the Premier League.

·          If Everton score 2 goals, the second will be the 150th goal scored in all competitions since David Moyes became manager.

Steve Flanagan

We turn up, Everton get three points, we go home...

If only it was that easy...  A dour, frustrating game for the most part with two 4-5-1 formations largely cancelling each other out.  Quite a few parallels with the Birmingham game last week in that respect — again, we looked the better side, but struggled to turn possession into actual goal threat.

Everton unchanged, Fulham with three ex-blues in the ranks.  Unsurprisingly, two of the three got a good reception from the crowd, the third... well, Radz got more than the odd boo here and there as you might expect.

Stalemate in the first half, the first fifteen minutes in particular crawled by.  No-one from either team seemed capable of putting their foot on the ball and creating something, play was very narrow and goal chances were few and far between.  Some of our players — Kilbane, Osman, Cahill in particular — seemed off their game in the first half. 

Can't recall too much of note apart from an Osman shot that went narrowly over and a Cahill header that landed on the roof of the net, which the scoreboard operator at least thought had crept in.  In fact, the best scoring chance fell right at the end of the half — to Radzinski — which Martyn did well to smother at the near post.

Half-time was memorable only for the worst effort in history at hitting the crossbar with the ball — poor lad could barely reach the goal line, let alone summon up sufficient strength in the shot to trouble the bar.  I've seen mascots with more power in the shot. (If you're reading this, sorry mate, but really...you'd have been better drafting in a ringer!)

Second half and we did begin to play with a bit more purpose, although a break in the deadlock seemed unlikely.  Cometh the hour mark, cometh the (Big) man — Duncan on for Osman; Bent pushed wide.  Suddenly we seemed to play with a lot more penetration and threat, and after being on the pitch for a couple of minutes Dunc stooped to place an easy header past Crossley after the keeper had palmed out a good effort from Kilbane. 

We then had a good spell of possession and menace, as if the goal had eased the tension in the team.  In this spell, Kilbane and Cahill came into the game a lot more and we had Fulham looking pretty ordinary for a while.  Unfortunately we then did our old trick of defending a one-goal lead far too deeply and put ourselves under some unnecessary pressure in the closing 15 minutes or so.  However, we held out for another 1-0 which moved us closer to the top two, who both dropped easy points at home.

Overall performance was workmanlike and effective rather than pretty.  A number of good performances — Weir, Carsley and Stubbs snuffed out any Fulham threat with little problem; Gravesen buzzed about to mostly good effect; and Kilbane and Cahill came into the game well in the second half after poor first-half performances.  The two full-backs did ok by and large although Hibbert's distribution was again poor, and Sandro had his usual 'can't be arsed' spells coupled with some good stuff.  Osman was largely ineffective and was the obvious substitution for Dunc.

Man of the match for me though was Marcus Bent by some distance — the lad led the line selflessly and ran his bollocks off.  He held the ball up well and kept going all game despite some pretty poor support from midfield.  He also played well on the right after Duncan came on and epitomised the spirit (and no small ability) that has us enjoying such dizzy heights so far this season.

Fulham did little to suggest they will be anything other than a poor-to-average mid-table team this year, although I have to say the little ginger lad in their midfield had a cracking game — think we could pick him up cheaply in the January sales?

Nice in a way to see Liverpool losing again — although it would also have been nice to see them nick a couple of points from Boro.  Without actually winning, of course.  Still, plenty of breathing space between us and the chasing pack at the moment.

Long may this run continue.

1-0, to the Everton,
1-0, to the Everton...

Paul Waring

Match Report

It's ironic that I'm getting more worried these days before home fixtures against small clubs like Fulham then away days at an equally poor outfit like Birmingham City. Our style of playing is probably one reason - more suited for an away game - the other reason is that dropping points at home can be criminal for a team looking to stay in third position in the Premier League.

After that massive result at St. Andrew's last week, my thoughts immediately turned to the Fulham game on Saturday. It's no more relaxing to want to stay near the top than trying to fight ourselves away from the relegation places. Quite simply, we had to beat Fulham to keep a bit of leeway between ourselves and 4th place in the table before our visit to St. James' Park next week. Thankfully, we did.

Fulham just didn't want to know. They obviously set out for a draw, perhaps hoping they could sneak out with a lucky 0-1 win. It was up to our lads to take the game to them, to create lots of chances and send them home as losers. It just happened to be one of those afternoon when you start wondering if we're ever going to score with little more than half an hour left.

We tried to play some good football, it just hardly came off. Tim Cahill headed over the bar after a good move, Marcus Bent should've done a lot better when suddenly an opening appeared after good off the ball running by Leon Osman. Unfortunately, Bent hit his shot early and missed. A more accomplished striker would have dribbled a few extra yards before at least hitting the target. That said, Bent had a good game. His first touch improved and he seemed more willing to ask for the ball instead of waiting for it to be played into his feet.

At the other end, Fulham nearly went in front when Alessandro Pistone completely lost track of Tomasz Radzinski at the back stick. Fortunately, Nigel Martyn did well to keep it out. Leon Osman was then denied by a great save from Mark Crossley, 0-0 at half time.

Nothing much changed after the break. We had most of the play and created some half chances, Kevin Kilbane went close with a header and Marcus Bent nearly slung in a contender for goal of the season. Enter Big Duncan Ferguson and 4 minutes later we were 1-0 up! Kilbane's header was parried by another good save from Crossley before Ferguson headed home the rebound.

It's like two years ago all over again. Taking slim 1-0 leads into the last 10-15 minutes of a game and light panic starts to creep in. We were mighty lucky when Andrew Cole mishit his attempted lob when clean through but then we amazingly allowed him another bite at goal when Martyn hesitated and Stubbs stopped while waiting for him. Radzinski then nearly drove in a late equaliser after being cleverly set-up by Brian McBride.

One - nil to the Everton while Chelsea and Arsenal both slipped up, but is anyone really expecting us to be challenging them for the title? They're certainly not at the BBC, the only team they could think of that benefited from the top two losing points was Manchester United. Everton and Middlesbrough will disagree.

Rob van Dijk