Everton 0 Fulham 1
Sean Dyche was hoping that this season would be the dawn of a new era for his Everton side as they welcomed Fulham to Goodison Park for the opening game. They went close early on when the visitors failed to clear the ball and striker Neal Maupay shot from a tight angle, narrowly missing the far post.
Onana did well out on the left, playing a sweeping ball into the path of Doucoure who ran straight through the middle of the Fulham defence. As Leno came out to try and save, the player tried to slot it passed the keeper but an out-stretched leg turned it wide of the post.
Everton were dominating the game and Iwobi swung the ball in from the left to find Doucoure in the box, his header dropped to Maupay but Leno managed to smother his shot from two yards out. Patterson hit an aerial ball into the box which the keeper came to collect.
As reached over Tarkowski, he dropped the ball, for Michael Keane to knock into the net. The referee disallowed it for a foul on the keeper and the VAR review stuck with the on-field decision. Everton’s fans were left reeling with the officials.
Credit: @Everton
Doucoure was creating all sorts of problems in the middle of the park and slotted in Maupay but Leno did brilliantly to block his shot. The Toffees just could not find a way passed the German stopper, leaving them frustrated as they headed in at the break.
Fulham started the second half brightly as Harry Wilson played a neat one-two out wide and managed to find Raul Jimenez in the box. He met the ball on the volley, only to see his effort come back off the post with Pickford beaten.
Everton came forward once again with Iwobi doing well to get a shot away from outside the box, Leno doing well at full-stretch to save it. The ball dropped to Patterson with the keeper still on the ground and he somehow thundered his shot off the crossbar when it seemed easier to score.
Fulham’s substitutes combined when Mitrovic found Pereira wide on the edge of the box, he improvised with a sliding challenge to hook the ball to the back post where De Cordova-Reid knocked it into the net with Pickford nowhere to be seen.
The Fulham player was unmarked on the back post and even the sliding Pickford could do nothing to stop the visitors taking the lead. Marco Silva seemed destined to get one over the club who had previously relieved him of his duties when he was manager at Goodison Park.
Sean Dyche will not have been happy to see his side register 19 shots, with 9 on target, and come away with a 0-1 defeat. Scoring goals was Everton’s problem last season, that almost got them relegated, and fans will not be pleased to see the same old problems again this campaign.
Credit: @FulhamFC
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