Bob Williams

Sun 22 November 2020 15:38, UK

Everton returned to winning ways in the Premier League with a 3-2 win over Fulham after a nervy finish at Craven Cottage.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin opened the scoring after 40 seconds tapping home from Richarlison’s cross. Bobby Decordova-Reid levelled the score shortly after with a drilled finish after some poor Toffees defending.

Everton then turned on the style as Calvert-Lewin tapped home a second and Abdoulaye Doucoure steered home a Lucas Digne cross to make it 3-1 at half time.

Yerry Mina deflected a Ruben Loftus-Cheek strike into his own net just moments after Fulham missed a penalty as a grandstand finish was teed up down by the Thames.

Everton held on though and collected three points for the first time in four league games despite a very nervous ending.

Some players impressed while others really let the side down.

Here are our player ratings from Everton v Fulham

Jordan Pickford – 6

Almost harsh to criticise him for not saving Decordova-Reid’s goal but he’ll be disappointed. Pickford made some decent saves but he couldn’t have done anything about Fulham’s second. Thankfully there were no mistakes to analyse from England’s number one.

Ben Godfrey – 6 

Quiet in the first half as Fulham attacked down the right but was more involved in the second. He was given licence to get forward and had the beating of Decordova-Reid when Fulham attacked. Gave away a soft penalty which luckily wasn’t converted.

Yerry Mina – 4

Sloppy in the opening stages and couldn’t deal with the pace of the Fulham attack. Never quite showed up and looked like an accident waiting to happen. Deflected the ball past Pickford for Fulham’s second which let the Cottagers back into the game. An afternoon to forget.

Michael Keane  – 6

Quiet first half for Keane as he was never really tested. Tidy in the second period other than a two-minute spell where the entire defence went missing. Not great but not terrible.

Lucas Digne – 8

Strong on the left-hand side and produced an excellent cross for Doucoure’s goal. Another excellent performance from Digne as he goes from strength to strength under Carlo Ancelotti.

Allan – 7

Should’ve done better to stop Fulham’s goal but recovered well and acted as the midfield marshall. Martin Keown called him a ‘tiger’ on BBC commentary in what was a very apt description.

Abdoulaye Doucoure – 8

Looked delighted to score his first Everton goal and he took it well. He linked up well with Digne all afternoon as he looks to have found his feet with his new side. Mountain in the midfield and bailed out his defence on a few occasions.

James Rodriguez – 6

Rodriguez looked tired and not up to his usual high standard but he grew into the game as Everton began to pile on the pressure. Withdrawn in the 74th minute.

Alex Iwobi – 7

Much improved performance from Iwobi as he had fun running at the Fulham defence. Some decent crosses in the first half but no real end product from the Nigerian.

Richarlison – 8

Fantastic run to assist Calvert-Lewin right from the off, what a way to return to the side. Spurned a few good chances to score in the first half but didn’t look affected by his midweek knock. Withdrawn with 15 to play.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 9

In the right place at the right time as usual for Everton’s first and timed his run to perfection for his and his side’s second. Everton’s talisman at the moment, where would we be without him?

Substitutes:

Tom Davies – 6

Came on with 17 minutes to play and managed to get forward but his crossing let him down.

Gylfi Sigurdsson –  6

Came on with 15 to play and didn’t have to too much of an impact other than taking some short free kicks.

In other Everton news, Kevin Campbell believes that Marcel Brands will sign a new deal with the Toffees.