Everton: Chris Sutton in disbelief at what he saw in Fulham visit to Goodison Park, ‘where on earth’ question asked
Chris Sutton was shocked to see Fulham rebound from a five-game losing streak in all competitions to get a win against Everton at Goodison Park.
The Toffees were unable to take advantage of the terrible form the Londoners were in when they arrived on Merseyside, falling to a 3-1 home defeat last weekend (15 April).
Despite levelling at 1-1 through Dwight McNeil in the first half Sean Dyche’s side failed to prevent a comfortable win for the visitors, to leave Sutton in disbelief.
In his BBC Sport predictions for the Cottagers’ next game against Leeds Sutton said: “Fulham’s win at Everton last week surprised the life out of me. Where on earth did that come from after four straight league defeats!?
“Marco Silva’s side thoroughly deserved it too, and they will have their confidence back now. That doesn’t make them any easier to read though, and I don’t really know what to expect from them next.”
Bounce back
The 4-4-2 formation that Dyche has opted for in the past two games has delivered a pair of performances that were a shadow of the battling displays that his side had got into the habit of prior to that.
Abdoulaye Doucouré being ruled out through suspension shouldn’t derail everything that the manager had instilled in his players since his January arrival.
They must show a response for the trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday (22 April), and the likely return of Amadou Onana and Dominic Calvert-Lewin should improve those chances, although why Bill Kenwright saw fit to hit back at fan criticism the night before only he will know.
It was a measure of how poor the previous defeat was that despite the relative league positions the two teams when into the game in the result shocked Sutton so much.
Everton cannot rely on the teams below them being worse for the rest of the campaign to stay up so it is absolutely vital they get back into the habit of picking up points themselves.
If there are to be any shocks going forward they need to be of the positive kind after being far too charitable in allowing Fulham to get back on track.