Toffees breeze past Fulham

Nikica Jelavic hit two goals as Everton stormed to a comfortable 4-0 victory over Fulham at Goodison Park.

Jelavic, Fellaini and Cahill on target in Everton romp

Nikica Jelavic hit two goals as Everton stormed to a comfortable 4-0 victory over Fulham at Goodison Park. The Croatia international has now taken his tally to 10 in 13 matches since arriving from Rangers in January and an impressive nine in his last seven appearances. He gave Everton the lead from the penalty spot after seven minutes before slotting home the third five minutes before the break. In between Jelavic's goals Marouane Fellaini converted his second in a week from Steven Pienaar's corner. Pienaar also set up Everton's fourth, his one-two with substitute Tim Cahill allowing the Australian to nudge the ball first-time beyond a wrong-footed Mark Schwarzer. With four against Sunderland and then their remarkable comeback against Manchester United at Old Trafford last weekend, David Moyes' side became the first Everton team since 1964 to score four times in three successive league matches. Fulham never came close to ending their woeful run of never winning a league match at Goodison Park. It now stands at 19, the longest sequence for a top-flight club at one particular ground.

Belief

In the build-up to the game Moyes had spoken of the belief and encouragement Jelavic's goals had given the side, and while three months may not be long enough to provide a full evaluation of long-term success he shows all the signs of being capable of producing on a regular basis. What he has brought to the team in a short space of time is a cutting edge and end product. The 26-year-old was up and running as early as the seventh minute when Pavel Pogrebnyak raised his arm in the defensive wall and referee Phil Dowd pointed to the spot without hesitation. Jelavic sent Schwarzer the wrong way and almost embarrassed the goalkeeper again when he crashed a low shot against the near post after Phil Jagielka's long ball had dropped just beyond Brede Hangeland. Everton's second was not long in coming as, courtesy of some lax defending, the unmarked Fellaini was able to head in Pienaar's 16th-minute corner with Damien Duff's flailing leg on the line failing to clear the danger. In half an hour Fulham had tested Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard just once, when he tipped over Kerim Frei's shot, but the goalkeeper was mightily relieved to see the ball drop behind after he had finger-tipped Clint Dempsey's deflected shot onto the crossbar. The match was over as a contest five minutes before half-time when Pienaar's through-ball allowed Jelavic to outsprint the defence, draw out Schwarzer and then somehow fire a shot from a narrow angle through the goalkeeper's legs.

Misery

Fulham's misery continued after the break as on the hour Cahill made it four after good link play between himself, Leon Osman and Pienaar. The latter's scooped pass over the defence was met by his midfield colleague's perfectly-timed run to slide a low volley past Schwarzer for only his third of the season. Jelavic was denied a deserved hat-trick when the Fulham goalkeeper saved his 25-yard free-kick and Pienaar forced another save out of Schwarzer with a shot across goal but any further goals would have merely been window-dressing. Fulham failed to create any chance of significance in the second half and their performance was a typical end-of-season one for a side in mid-table with nothing to play for. Prior to the game Moyes had admitted he was happy for the season to end quickly as they too had no real incentive other than finishing above near-neighbours Liverpool. But he must now be wondering what they could have achieved with their current form had there still been a month or more to go. And had they not had such a poor first half of the campaign, the opportunities could have been even greater.

Everton	Team Statistics	Fulham
4	Goals	0
3	1st Half Goals	0
7	Shots on Target	2
2	Shots off Target	1
3	Blocked Shots	3
3	Corners	5
14	Fouls	10
4	Offsides	2
1	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
89.6	Passing Success	86.7
24	Tackles	12
79.2	Tackles Success	66.7
52.4	Possession	47.6
53.3	Territorial Advantage	46.7
615	Total Passes	558
19	Total Crosses	12
123	Lost Balls	127
56	Recoveries	46
48	1st Half Poss.	52
56.5	2nd Half Poss.	43.5