LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) – Harry Wilson scored his first Premier League goal of the season as Fulham snapped a five-game losing run and piled the misery on relegation-threatened Everton with a 3-1 victory at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Harrison Reed and Dan James also netted for the visitors as Everton battled to contain the Londoners’ precise passing and movement. Dwight McNeil scored what proved to be a consolation for the hosts.
Fulham lie 10th in the table with 42 points from 30 games, while Everton remain just outside the relegation zone with 27 points from 31 matches and only above 18th-placed Nottingham Forest on goal difference.
“It was a massive game for us, as we’ve not been the best of late,” Wilson told reporters. “It was a big game for them (Everton) but for us as well because we wanted to get back to the levels we had been earlier this season.
“We let them back into it at the end of the first half but I think in the second half as soon as we got the goal we controlled the game.”
It was a deserved victory for Fulham, only their second in 28 visits to Goodison Park, as they dominated large parts of the game and had Everton chasing shadows amid the bright sunshine on Merseyside.
Reed gave Fulham the lead midway through the first half when he picked up the loose ball after Wilson’s curling shot hit the post and fired past home goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Everton had a good spell just before halftime and were level at the break when McNeil skipped away from Reed’s challenge and drilled a shot low from the edge of the box into the bottom corner of the net.
Everton should have been ahead when striker Neal Maupay had only Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno to beat, but his shot was saved by the gloveman.
Wilson put Fulham back in front early in the second half as the ball fell to him in the box and he picked his spot against a static Everton defence.
The points were sealed with a little over 20 minutes remaining when neither James Tarkowski nor Michael Keane dealt with a long free kick and James calmly finished, sending many in the ground heading for an early exit.
“It’s hard, it’s a tough one to take. When we scored we finished the (first) half strong and could have been 2-1 up,” McNeil said. “Every game for us is massive, but it’s a tough one to take home.
“We’ve been in this position before and the lads know what we need to do to stay up. I have confidence in that but it’s tough one to take today.”
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Ed Osmond and Mike Harrison)
