Jeff Stelling reacts to Everton scenes in loss v Fulham at Goodison Park live on Sky Sports
Jeff Stelling labelled the afternoon of Everton as “grim” after Sean Dyche’s side conceded their third goal against Fulham at Goodison Park on Saturday (15 April).
On an afternoon where relegation rivals Bournemouth and Wolves both picked up wins, the Toffees fell to a sloppy 3-1 defeat to Marco Silva’s side despite Dwight McNeil’s beautifully taken first-half strike.
Goals from Harrison Reed, Harry Wilson and the third from Daniel James were enough to leave Everton on the precipice of the relegation zone and only sitting above Nottingham Forest on goal difference.
Speaking live on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday, Stelling issued some worrying words for Dyche’s side who will look to get back on track when travelling to Crystal Palace next Saturday (22 April).
“There is another goal at Goodison Park,” he said. [15 April 16:28]
“This is a key goal and an afternoon that was looking pretty grim for Everton is getting worse and worse.”
Terrible defending
Despite starting the game brightly against Fulham, Dyche’s team started dropping deeper and deeper after the break, and it quickly became a rout for the visitors.
Although Marco Silva’s side arrived into the encounter on the back of four consecutive defeats, the loose defending of the likes of Ben Godfrey and Michael Keane made it easy work for them to return to top gear and get back into the winner’s enclosure.
There was nothing that Jordan Pickford could do about the third goal, but the goalkeeper will certainly have made his opinions clear in the changing room after the match.
What would have made the Toffees’ afternoon even grimmer would be the results that other relegation rivals grabbed, with Bournemouth picking up a win against Spurs and Wolves drawing seven points of the relegation zone.
Everton will need to improve their defence drastically if they want to cling onto the coattails of these teams above them.