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90+8’ - How many more minutes of this do we have to take? After the last shenanigans there’ll be God only knows how many more minutes added on.
It’s over, thank you, and good riddance to the Cottage.

90+4’ - Everton haven’t had a shot on goal in the last ten or fifteen minutes. That’s not how you come back from two goals down.
Certainly some shithousery going on though, and the Blues are hitting back. Gomes wrestles down Mitrovic and then a couple of minutes later stamps on his ankle. Horrible, and lovely. Meanwhile Bryan has a nosebleed after getting shoulder to the face too.

90’ - There’ll be eight minutes of time added on. This misery doesn’t end quite yet.

84’ - Cenk Tosun and Theo Walcott will be the next two subs, coming on for Bernard and Richarlison.

74’ - Marco Silva throws on Ademola Lookman for Sigurdsson, but the horse has surely bolted the stable now.

69’ - Ryan Babel makes it 2-0. Mitrovic sets him up at the halfline, and Babel gets away from the chasing Coleman and Gomes, chips it over Pickford. Game over, nine-game losing streak should be over.

66’ - Bernard nicks the ball off Christie and wins a corner. That becomes another corner, but it’s cleared away.

59’ - Bernard and Sigurdsson combine well to find DCL, and as he runs in on goal pushes his shot past the goalie and off the base of the far post. So close. The Blues have upped the tempo now.

57’ - Gana with a wide open pocket to run with the ball, shoots from outside the box in the left channel, and scoops it well over. Sigh.

52’ - DCL goes for a cross and gets tangled with Sergio Rico. Ball sits on the ground and Sigurdsson slams it home but the ref blows for a foul. Brave goalkeeping there.

46’ - Gomes gets us started and there is Fulham’s very well-deserved goal. Mitrovic and Babel combine to set up Tom Cairney for his first Premier League goal of the season. His only other Premier League goal was also against the Blues, nine years ago when he was with Hull City. 1-0 to Fulham.

Halftime thoughts - The relegated side have been the better team, mostly because of Mitrovic giving the Blues defence plenty of grief.

Premier League

45+2’ - Coleman swings in a low cross and DCL just fails to make contact yards out. Would have been a good way to end a poor half otherwise.

44’ - Sigurdsson dallies on the ball instead of shooting, it’s cleared away. Then Richarlison clatters into Cairney and he goes in the book. First caution of the game.

42’ - Everton standing off again as Mitrovic curls a shot around Seamus Coleman and hammers it off the crossbar. An absolute nightmare for the Blues’ defence.

36’ - Mitrovic is doing to Jags what DCL did to Sokratis last weekend. That’s not a good thing.
Gueye yanks back Anguissa, lucky not to get booked. Every one of the Blues have looked just a tad off the pace.

33’ - Good spell of pressure from Fulham there as once again Everton are struggling to clear their lines. Fourth Fulham corner is cleared away.

30’ - Everton are getting themselves in trouble here, failing to clear the ball effectively, and allowing Fulham to build pressure on them when they have possession. The passing has been off for the Blues today.

28’ - Idrissa Gueye is on the ground. Took a rebound off between the legs... oof. Up and walking around gingerly, but it’s a cold London afternoon, and ahem, well, you know.

22’ - PICKFORD! Mitrovic wins a corner off Jagielka, then is first to it beating Jags again and Pickford does excellently palming it away. Corner comes in and again its Mitrovic, Jags clears for another corner. Next corner in and Pickford parries away and it’s cleared. Whew.

20’ - Two quick chances in succession. Gomes has a couple of shots charged down inside the box, and then Bernard with a good run and shot, but straight at the goalie.

18’ - Richarlison wins a freekick down the right off Joe Bryan on the right. Delivery is poor from Gylfi Sigurdsson and it’s cleared away.

12’ - Mitrovic makes a good run down the left, shrugs off Jagielka but his shot is straight at Pickford. The hosts aren’t folding over easily or anything.

10’ - Andre Gomes with a sizzling low ball across from the right, just ahead of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Blues win their first corner, it’s cleared away.

1’ - And the hosts get us underway. Jordan Pickford with a poor ball to Jagielka and the two almost combine for an early howler but are able to clear.

Starting lineups - Club captain Phil Jagielka keeps his spot in the lineup even with Michael Keane fit and available for selection. Fulham will stick with their 3-4-3 formation, which is good for the Blues who’ve done well against the three-man backlines West Ham United and Arsenal presented.

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Everton face what is on paper one of the easier games on their Premier League calendar, especially now that Fulham have already been relegated. It’ll be interesting to see which side of their hosts shows up today at Craven Cottage though - will Fulham be more open and expansive with the pressure off their shoulders, or is this a tired and defeated squad that just wants this season to end as soon as possible?

For the Blues, fans will be wishing this current resurgence had happened a couple of months earlier when there was still some chance of breaking away from the rest of the pack. However, the last three wins have been a welcome sight for sore eyes, with two of them coming against top six opponents Chelsea and Arsenal.

A strong finish and maximum points from the last five games would be a dream return and would likely seal seventh spot, which might still offer a spot in European football next season, so there is that still to play for.

Match Details

Date and start time: Saturday, April 13th at 7:00 a.m. PT / 10:00 a.m ET / 3:00 p.m. BST

Stadium: Craven Cottage, London, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 25,700

Weather: 47°F/8°C, showers, 41% chance of precipitation, 14 kmph winds

How to Watch/Listen

TV: N/A - United States; N/A - United Kingdom; Flow Sports 2, beIN Sports HD9

Radio: evertontv, TalkSport Radio World

Live stream: NBC Gold, Flow Sports App, Sportsnet Now, beIN Sports Connect, Kwesé Free Sports

Gamethread: Comments section below starting one hour before game time

Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Lineups

Everton

Starting XI: Pickford; Digne, Zouma, Jagielka, Coleman; Gueye, Gomes; Bernard, Sigurdsson, Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin

Subs: Stekelenburg, Baines, Keane, Davies, Walcott, Lookman, Tosun

Fulham

Starting XI: Rico, Fosu-Mensah, Ream, Le Marchand, Bryan, Chambers, Anguissa, Cairney, Babel, Mitrovic, Sessegnon

Subs: Fabri, Christie, Odoi, Seri, Elliott, Kebano, Schurrle

Last Meeting

Everton comfortably won 3-0, but it could have so easily gone the other way when Ryan Sessegnon clattered the bar from just yards out early on in the game. Soon after the break, Gylfi Sigurdsson hammered his shot off the bar and the groans were already going around Goodison.

However the Icelander redeemed himself with two well-taken goals around Cenk Tosun getting his first goal of the season for an easy victory in the end.

The last time the Blues went to the Cottage was back in 2014, with Steven Naismith, Kevin Mirallas and an own goal making it 3-1 for the Blues, who have won eight of their last ten played against Fulham.