- Date:2007-12-08
- Kick-off:15:00
- Venue:Goodison Park
- Attendance:32743
- Referee:Bennett, S
Live Commentary
90mins
The final whistle goes and Everton gain a easy win over a pretty poor Fulham, who's second half performance was quite worrying, and its Yakubu's hat-rick that ends up seperating the sides.
90mins
There will be 2 minutes of stoppage time to be played.
87mins
Niemi makes another good save from McFadden, and Niemi has been very busy today and played well despite conceding 3.
86mins
There shouldn't be much injury time added on, which is a blessing for Fulham as they'll want to get off as quickly as possible.
84mins
Healy attempts to chip Howard, who was off his line, but the effort may have been jsut a bit too ambitious as the ball hits the roof of the net.
82mins
Yakubu and Cahill are both taken off as Andrew Johnson and James McFadden come on in a double substitution.
81mins
The second half has certainly been a one-sided affair, and Yakubu has again shown that he was a good buy from Boro.
79mins
Yakubu gets his hat-rick! Steven Pienaar played the ball to Yakubu, who turned Dejan Stefanovic in the box and then calmly placed the ball home.
76mins
Fulham still have enough time to get back in the game, but at the moment you'ld have to say that it looks highly unlikely.
74mins
Danny Murphy is replaced by Ki-Hyeon Seol.
70mins
Elliot Omozusi is booked for protesting that last chance, as he thought that Arteta was offside.
70mins
Arteta has missed a guilt edge chance, Yakubu put the ball across the box, and Arteta has somehow missed from 6 yards.
68mins
Everton are dominating the game now, and you have to feel for Healy, who always seems to be brought on when his side are losing and dont have much chance of getting back.
65mins
The game is comfortable for Everton now, with Fulham as yet failing to produce much upfront, the home team look like they might be sitting back a bit.
63mins
David Healy replaces Clint Dempsey.
61mins
Yakubu gets his second of the game! Cahill put in a corner, and Osman flicks it on from the near post leaving Yakubu to head home from close range.
58mins
Dempsey has his shot spilled by Howard, but Everton are able to clear the ball as Shefki Kuqi was bearing down on goal.
55mins
The ball bounces around the Fulham box from an Everton corner, but eventually, Fulham are able to clear the ball.
53mins
Murphy has a shot on goal, and Howard makes his first save of the game, and that was a good effort from Murphy.
51mins
Yakubu scores! Cahill shoots and Niemi makes a good save, but spills the ball, and Yakubu is left to finish from close range.
46mins
Lescott gets his head on a whipped in free-kick, but he cant get the direction on it and Fulham can clear the ball.
45mins
The game restarts with both sides looking to improve on the standard of the first half, the fans will be praying for the same!
45mins
The whistle goes and neither side have created many chances of note, but Fulham will be the happier of both sides having kept a clean sheet in the opening 45.
45mins
There will just be a single minute of stoppage time.
42mins
The game is closing in on half-time, and neither side has had that much to shout about, and unsurprisingly, the crowd have been rather quiet.
39mins
Elliot Omozusi makes a crucial tackle as Everton were in a dangerous area, and Fulham are able to clear the ball.
36mins
Simon Davies puts in a free-kick, but it is a poor one, and it goes straight out for a goal-kick.
32mins
Simon Davis drives a shot on goal, and Niemi pushes it around the post for a corner.
30mins
Murphy puts in a good ball into the box but no Fulham player can get to it and Howard claims the ball.
27mins
Lescott fouls as the Linesman flags up, and the rain is still driving down, and some players may start trying long range efforts as keeping here is getting harder.
23mins
Phil Jagielka comes on to replace Leighton Baines.
22mins
Leighton Baines pulls up sharply as he was charging down the wing, and Baines could have pulled his hamstring in that attack.
19mins
The game has still failed to get into second gear as both sides continue to play at a slow tempo.
15mins
The crowd haven't had too much to shout about in the opening 15 minutes, perhaps the conditions are playing a part in this game after all.
12mins
Niemi makes a good save from a free-kick after the ball took a big deflection off the Fulham wall.
10mins
Diomansy Kamara is booked for refusing to retreat 10 yards at an Everton free-kick. Though the decsion can be seen as a bit harsh.
9mins
Murphy had the chance to shoot from range, but he decided to run at the defence, and as a result lost possession.
6mins
The game has started slowly, with neither side showing much attacking intent at the moment.
3mins
Lescott hits a good volley and Niemi makes the first save of the game, and its a good one.
2mins
The rain, like it is round most the country, is pouring down at Goodison Park, and how will this affect the styles of football from both sides?
0mins
Everton are looking for their 200th Premier League victory against a Fulham side who have had their worst ever start to a Premier League season as Steve Bennett gets the game underway.
0mins
Fulham are missing 6 key players including the influential Alexei Smertin, however Kamara is the only change from Monday as the visitors begin with: Niemi, Omozusi, Hughes, Stefanovic, Konchesky, Davies, Davis, Murphy, Kamara, Kuqi, Dempsey
0mins
Joseph Yobo passes a late fitness test and starts with Lescott in defence as Jagielka returns to the bench, Everton start with: Howard, Neville, Lescott, Yobo, Baines, Osman, Arteta, Cahill, Carsley, Pienaar, Yakubu
Match Preview
Everton should get back to winning ways when poor travellers Fulham visit Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon.
Since controversially losing the Merseyside derby in mid-October, David Moyes' side have hit a rich vein of form and are unbeaten in their last five Premier League matches.
They have beaten Derby County, Birmingham City and Sunderland and drawn at Chelsea and Portsmouth in the last two months as well as progressing in the UEFA and Carling Cups.
Everton were in outstanding form when thrashing the Black Cats 7-1 in their previous league game on Merseyside but showed their ability to grind out results last weekend with a goalless draw at Pompey.
The Toffees remain in contention for a second successive UEFA Cup spot and look set to challenge the likes of Manchester City, Portsmouth, Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers in the second half of the campaign for a top-six finish.
In contrast, Fulham appear to be embarking on another struggle to avoid relegation after winning only two of their opening 15 league encounters.
Lawrie Sanchez's side are the draw specialists having been held to seven stalemates so far this term, and Monday's predictable 2-0 defeat at Manchester United extended their winless sequence away from Craven Cottage to seven games.
Everton will be without the services of veteran defender Alan Stubbs (calf) and keeper Iain Turner (hip) on Saturday, but former Wigan Athletic left-back Leighton Baines could feature after recovering from an ankle problem.
The Cottagers continue to have a lengthy injury list with Jimmy Bullard, Brian McBride, Lee Cook (all knee), Kasey Keller (arm), Philippe Christanval (foot), Ian Pearce (calf) and Simon Elliott (Achilles) all currently in the treatment room.
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Match Report
Everton stretched their unbeaten run to ten games thanks to a second-half hat-trick from new Goodison Park hero Yakubu.
Laurie Sanchez brought his Fulham side to Goodison looking for a first away win in 25 games but he found no quarter given by an Everton side that came to life in the second 45 minutes.
Fulham started brightly on a wet, windy and frankly miserable Saturday afternoon. Steven Davis forced a punched clearance from Tim Howard in just the third minute.
As Everton regained their composure, Joleon Lescott almost put the hosts ahead from a Mikel Arteta free-kick which was well held by Fulham keeper Antti Niemi.
In fairness, the horrendous conditions on Merseyside made it difficult for either side to play with any degree of skill.
In fact, the most notable incident of the first half was a fine Niemi tip-over after an Arteta free-kick deflected off Davis' head.
At the end of the first half Fulham had probably shaded the game in the wet conditions.
Even the most optimistic Evertonian could not have predicted what was to come after the break.
Both teams came out for the second half unchanged, but Everton came flying out the traps, whatever David Moyes said at half-time clearly worked.
Everton's opening goal came when Yakubu toe-poked home after Niemi had parried a fantastic low volley from Tim Cahill straight to the big man's feet.
Two minutes later Danny Murphy forced a great save from Howard after he hit a rasping drive from outside the area, a shot which was Fulham's last meaningful effort on goal.
Ten minutes later Yakubu made it two after Spanish winger Arteta whipped in a dangerous corner, which found Phil Jagielka, whose smart back header fell to Yakubu.
The clinical forward made no mistake after directing his own header into the top left hand corner.
The Nigerian should have had his hat-trick after the best move of the game, which saw Steven Pienaar play a lovely one-two with Phil Neville and run almost the full length of the pitch to play in Yakubu, who then tried to slide in Arteta when a shot was the better option.
It was Pienaar who was instrumental in finally helping Yakubu complete his treble after the South African winger picked up the ball in the Fulham half, played it to Yakubu, received it back, and instead of playing it out to Arteta, cut it back intelligently into the big man's path, who evaded a last-ditch challenge to slot home.
The Nigerian left the field to a standing ovation before referee Steve Bennett blew the final whistle.
Everton Team
Fulham Team
Everton | Fulham |
Corners
| 12 | 7 |
Fouls
| 9 | 9 |
Goal attempts
| 15 | 6 |
Shots off target
| 4 | 2 |
Offsides
| 3 | 0 |



90mins
Healy has another good effort as his long range shot hits the roof of the net, and you have to wonder why he doesn't start for Fulham.