Fulham hold out as Toffees hit the depths

25 September 2010 17:16
Everton sank to the foot of the Premier League following a frustrating 0-0 draw at Fulham to complete a miserable week for the winless Toffees.[LNB] The Toffees were held to a drab draw at Craven Cottage but despite securing a point, they propped up the table after West Ham beat Tottenham.[LNB]Having crashed out of the Carling Cup with a midweek defeat at Brentford, they must now wait at least another week to claim their first Premier League win of the season.[LNB]Moyes will be the more satisfied manager after Everton controlled long spells of a dire match that did not show any sign of life until the final half hour.[LNB]Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer made a fine save from Yakubu in the 78th minute and the later stages were lit up by a duel between the rivals that the Australian clearly won.[LNB]But the afternoon reflected poorly on both teams with each suffering from their lack of firepower having lost key strikers to the treatment room.[LNB]Everton made the brighter start but it took a well-timed tackle from their defender Phil Jagielka to deny Clint Dempsey a great chance.[LNB]Carlos Salcido sped into the box and squared to Dempsey, who was about to shoot from the edge of the area only for Jagielka to intervene[LNB]Tim Cahill, back having missed the last two games with a knee injury, became tangled with Brede Hangeland as Everton threatened and then Pienaar saw an attempt saved by Schwarzer.[LNB]Seamus Coleman was proving influential for the Toffees down the right side as Fulham continued to find themselves on the back foot.[LNB]Schwarzer had to react smartly to gather a dangerous cross from Phil Neville with Leighton Baines lurking in the six-yard box.[LNB]A dynamic run from Baines kept Everton on the front foot and Fulham's problems grew when Stephen Kelly limped off to be replaced by Chris Baird.[LNB]Zoltan Gera opened up his box of tricks to skip past Baines before producing a tame shot that failed to trouble Howard.[LNB]Better was to come from Fulham when Simon Davies found Salcido, who expertly teed up Dickson Etuhu only for the Nigerian's header to find the arms of Howard.[LNB]Mikel Arteta, restored to the Everton line-up after missing his side's Carling Cup exit in midweek, tried his luck from long range but the Spaniard's shot drifted narrowly wide of the right post.[LNB]The impressive Salcido stopped Cahill in his tracks with a textbook challenge as the second half got off to an attritional start.[LNB]Gera sent a shot across the face of goal and was then replaced by Eddie Johnson as manager Mark Hughes looked to inject some like into his side.[LNB]Fulham responded by producing a slick move that saw Dempsey force a desperate save from Howard before Duff's follow up was deflected to safety.[LNB]Everton should have crept ahead when Coleman showed athleticism to find the near post where Yakubu failed to connect while under pressure from Schwarzer.[LNB]Dempsey then went close as the match finally began to open up.[LNB]A brilliant fingertip save of Yakubu's low piledriver showed exactly why manager Mark Hughes battled so hard to prevent Schwarzer from joining Arsenal in the summer.[LNB]Schwarzer advanced off his line to keep Yakubu at bay once more before Kamara, playing his first game for Fulham since January, saw a weak penalty shout rejected by Howard Webb.[LNB]Yakubu had two chances to snatch victory but his first effort bobbled agonisingly wide of the right post before he missed a sitter with the last kick of the game.

Source: Team_Talk