Everton opened the scoring after just three minutes when new-signing Royston Drenthe – on only his first Premier League start – picked up the the ball from Rodwell and lashed a curling, long-range effort into the bottom corner of Fulham’s goal.

Maroune Fellaini, Apostolos Vellios and Jack Rodwell all had excellent chances to put the Toffees 2-0 up, however, despite being firmly in control, Everton failed to add to the scoreline before half time.

Fulham substitute Bryan Ruiz made an immediate impact when the 26-year-old found the equalizer, superbly chipping the ball over Tim Howard from inside the box. The £10m signing could have scored his second later on but his low effort well saved by Everton’s American stopper.

Both sides pushed for the win, with Fulham squandering a golden opportunity to make the scoreline 2-1 when Bobby Zamora lashed the ball over the bar after rounding Tim Howard.

Everton had showed added impetus after the substitutions of Coleman and Cahill, but it was earlier substitute Saha who scored the winner with a clinical finish that went in off the post.

Drenthe and Rodwell were particularly influential in orchestrating the victory, with the latter wrapping up the win deep into injury time with a well-struck shot from distance.

Everton went into the game with a few injury problems, adding to the long-term injury of Marouane Fellaini Louis Saha and Tim Cahill were both absent while Donovan had to settle for a place on the bench. Though there was some good news however, after 11 months Phil Jagielka was back in the starting line up for Everton.

The game started slowly, a tempo that remained throughout the match unlike most Premier League games. Everton should have taken the lead early on as Yakubu found himself with the ball at his feet in the penalty box, the Park End got ready to celebrate the first goal of the day but the Yak’s finishing let him down as the ball struck the post, a frustrating afternoon in-front of goal for the Nigerian was to follow. It took Everton until the 17th minute to break Hull down, a great cross from the Yak from the left found Mikel Arteta un-marked at the far-post to cushion a volley into Boaz Myhill’s goal. A first goal of the season for the Spaniard and a welcome return to form after a long injury.

Everton started to dominate and before the 30 minute mark Lee Mason gifted them the chance to put the game to bed. Kamil Zayette tackled Yakubu to put the ball out for a corner, but the referee inexplicably pointed to the spot. The Yak stepped up to put the Toffees two to the good but his penalty was poor and was saved to Myhill’s right, justice was done.  Hull made Everton pay in fantastic style, just minutes after the penalty the ball fell for 19 year old Tom Cairney and he smashed a left-footed volley from outside the area into the back of Tim Howard’s net. Everton needed a response, and they got one, a goal to savour, Anichebe squared to Pienaar who looked to shoot but instead back-heeled to Arteta who stroked home his second of the game to ensure Everton went in 2-1 up at the break.

Arteta hadn’t scored a hat-trick in his career before, but he’ll be claiming that he’s got one now, though the dubious goals committee may disagree. Not long into the 2nd half Arteta chipped a ball in from the left, it looped over Boaz Myhil and Richard Garcia headed it into the net. The goal will be credited to the Australian but Arteta says he’s claiming the goal as it may have been going in anyway. That goal killed the game as a contest and Everton pushed for a 4th. Landon Donovan came off the bench for what could be his last game at Goodison and made an instant impact, a great ball from the right found Yakubu who would surely get a goal his display deserved, but the Yak blazed the ball over the bar. Donovan took matters into his own hands soon after, Leighton Baines’s cross eluded Jack Rodwell in the penalty area and fell to the American who lashed the ball home into the net, a perfect way to sign off. The rout was completed minutes later when Donovan found himself in a similar position, he could have gone for goal again but he squared for Jack Rodwell who slotted home his second goal in consecutive home games.

A truly magnificent game of football and a great Everton performance, but next week at St Andrews promises to be a difficult test.

Ratings:

Howard – 6

Neville – 7

Jagielka – 7

Distin – 7

Baines – 7

Anichebe – 6

Arteta – 10

Osman – 6

Heitinga – 8

Pienaar – 8

Yakubu – 7

SUBS:

Rodwell – 7

Donovan – 8

Gosling – N/A

Another Goodison game, another bore draw.

Spurs went into this game in a position many hoped Everton would have been in, but late transfers and the worst injury crisis since the Walter Smith era left Everton just 2 points ahead of the relegation zone coming into this game, and once Yobo went off early on leaving us with two right backs playing centre half and a right back making his Premierleague debut, you could have been forgiven for thinking that gap from the drop zone wasn’t going to get any bigger.

The first half was pretty even and end to end stuff with both teams having chances to go into half time with the lead.  However just over a minute into the second half Everton fell asleep and Defoe took advantage and gave Spurs the lead.  Dawson headed a second in and it seemed like it was going to be another disappointing afternoon at Goodison, and some part timers agreed and as they left the ground early.

But then Everton have never been that predictable.  Everton had a couple of half chances then Coleman, on his Premierleague debut, made a brave run and with a burst of pace got to the by-line and expertly crossed to Saha who had fantastically lost his marker to slot home and bring Everton back into it.  Saha had another chance to score the equaliser with an ambitious over head kick which only narrowly missed.  Thankfully this Everton side still had fight in them and Coleman stepped up again with a cross which worked its way to Baines who fired in for Cahill to head in from the six yard line.

Those celebrations turned to despair as Spurs were rewarded an injury time penalty as memories of Aston Villa spread around Goodison, but after a word from Saha Howard continued his penalty saving heroics as he saved Defoe’s late penalty.  Goodison erupted as if we’d scored a last minute winner in the cup final.

The celebrations from the fans and players may not have been what you expected from an Everton side sitting 15th in the league after getting a point against Spurs, but this come back is far more important than the point.  Confidence and belief is once again coming into this Everton side, and whilst any hopes of a top four place may be long dead, with the FA Cup and Europa league still on the agenda, this season may still turn itself around.

Moyes announced that our new Russian was going to start his first game, and after eagerly awaiting my first chance to see him properly, knowing he was a Russian my heart was saying Kanchelskis, but knowing he was a lanky left mid my head was saying Kilbane, but thankfully his debut was a very good one.  Though all I could really see was a distant blur in blue, having a natural left sided player gave us some much needed balance, his range of passing was good and he showed some decent pace.  But arguably the best part of his game last night was his set pieces.  Even with Arteta on our free kicks they were always hit and miss, and whilst it may be jumping the gun a bit, Bilyaletdinov did seem to be a natural at set pieces, and we may have our first consistently good corner kick taker since Hinchcliffe.

This game had been seen by some as part of the race for 2nd in the group, and if that’s the case we’ve got nothing to fear about progessing.  I’ve been privy to some pearls of wisdom from some Man City fans recently who informed me that we’d struggle after losing our goalscoring centreback, but after 17 minutes, after two centre back goals from Bilyaletdinov corners, we were looking comfortable.

Everton restricted Athens to some hit and hope shots, but it was Pienaar who scored the scorcher of the evening, hitting it in the corner from outside the box to send Everton into half time with a 3 goal lead.

At half time Cahill, on a yellow card, was replaced by Osman, but the wind was slightly taking out of our sails a few minutes into the half as Bilyaletdinov picked up a knock and was replaced by Yakubu making his first home appearance in almost a year.  If Sunday was negative Moyes, Thursday was Moyes on acid, as he followed this substitution up with Saha replacing Pienaar, leaving us with 3 strikers on the pitch.  Jo was the one who came in with the 4th goal late on rounding off a good display from the Brazillian.

Saha’s soft sending off slightly marred the end of the game, but it seems that we  have set ourselves up for another strong European run, though our European pedigree and our chances of winning this competition will most likely be tested against Benfica next month.

But hopefully this will be the catalyst our season needs and will help us build some momentum going into Sunday’s game with Blackburn.

Everton were on the back foot before the match had even started, Fulham were boosted by the return of former Goodison hero Andy Johnson, who got a good reception from the Everton faithful, and former Liverpool player Danny Murphy, who didn’t get such a good reception. Everton on the other hand were without player of the season so far Louis Saha who had a hamstring problem, his place was taken by  Jo, who’s performance was nothing short of atrocious.

The first half was a comfortable one for Everton, everything that Fulham did was well dealt with by the Everton defence, especially Sylvain Distin who kept Fulham’s top 2 quiet superbly for the opening 45 minutes. Fulham’s best effort came from a corner, with Clint Dempsey heading just wide, with some fans thinking it had gone in. It was Everton though who took the lead just after half an hour, a foul by Danny Murphy earned him a booking and Everton a free-kick. Leighton Baines swung it in with his left and Tim Cahill headed it home in typical fashion. However television replays suggest that the Australian was in an offside position when the ball was played, it wasn’t to matter in the end though.

Everton just simply stopped playing after the break, close to the hour mark Fulham had their equaliser. Phil Neville brought down John Pantsil just outside the box, Murphy’s shot was blocked however it came only as far as Paul Konchesky whose goal-bound shot rebounded off Distin and past the helpless Howard. It was desperately unlucky and there was certainly nothing that could have been done to prevent it.

The goal was a sign of things to come as matters got progressively worse after that. John Pantsil slid in to challenge Phil Neville and caught him under the knee. Neville was in agony, yet referee Peter Walton bizarrely waived play on before Neville belatedly received treatment and was stretchered from the field. Initial news on his condition is positive and it appears it is merely a deep gash beneath his knee.

Everton’s misery was compounded on 78 minutes as Fulham scored the eventual winner. Damien Duff was allowed to run at the defence and struck a wonderful shot into the corner to win the game. Unlike the first goal, this was not unlucky,  Leighton Baines should have pushed him out to the right instead of letting him cut inside and there were question marks over Joseph Yobo’s positioning.

Everton’s first real attack on goal in the second half came soon after, a Baines corner was flicked on by Heitinga for Fellaini who failed to beat stand-in keeper David Stockdale, the rebound fell to Yobo who’s shot was cleared off the line by Murphy. Everton continued to press but were nearly caught short as Dempey struck with Howard out of his goal, Sylvain Distin got back to clear off the line.

All in all a very disappointing day for Everton by the Thames, the next few games will be crucial they are to move away from the bottom of the table and nearer to that top 6.

However Moyes and the other players came together following the shambles and have restored some of that optimism. The first twenty or so minutes were nervy, Sigma created a few chances, and had a decent penalty shout, and the crowd full of frustration and nerves got on the back of the players after each small mistake, but on the 33rd minute Fellaini turned his defender and put a cross in which Saha managed to poke in, and a huge sigh of relief was felt around Goodison. But we still needed that bit more help, and the Sigma keeper obliged and kindly dived out of the way of Rodwell’s first goal of the evening.

Having gone into half time with a two goal advantage, and having seen a lesson in shooting from the Sigma substitutes at half time, I felt quietly confident and even began to think ahead to the next stage of the Europa league, and it wasn’t long after half time that Rodwell confirmed my optimism was not misplaced. Baines fired in a free kick which was punched out as far a Pienaar, who passed it out to Rodwell who blasted it in to the top of the net from 25 yards.

Ossie went close after some comical defending, but the keeper just managed to tip it round the post. But the 4th didn’t take long to come. Saha had already made a clever run off the ball to send his marker the wrong way, and as Ossie played it in to him on the edge of the box, he turned another defender and fired it into the bottom corner.

Bar our worst ever European defeat, we’ll have European football until winter again, and with the banana skin of our European qualifier all but out the way, hopefully our season can kick on, and we can well and truly put our horrific start to bed when we arrive in Burnley on Sunday.

This time last year our awful incompetent performance was blamed on our injuries, lack of transfers and playing untried teenagers, but this year we played a well settled, Premierleague quality line up, who each played a key part in our season last year.  This performance was due to Moyes, his coaches and his players not gelling and getting up to speed over the pre season.  To have a team of players who have played with each other many times look like they’ve never seen each other, to have a team of set piece specialists forget to mark on set pieces, and to play Arsenal knowing they’ll hit us on the break, then leave ourselves completely exposed to counter attacks, that’s down to management, and whilst I’m a huge fan of Moyes, this incompetent performance has been replicated over most of his previous opening games, and if Moyes and Round can’t solve this obvious weakness, he should get someone who can.

The game itself yesterday was a lesson in how to throw away a match.  We weren’t outclassed, we gave Arsenal a list of our weaknesses and sat back as they took advantage of them, defensively the players may as well have been falling over each other, and up front we never got two passes together and simply lumped it up to an isolated Fellaini.  Baines and Pienaar were no match for Bendtner, who at twice their size won everything in the air and ran the pair ragged.  Jo looked lost up front, and on the rare event he did get into a decent position support was nowhere to be seen.  Fellaini won everything in the air, but had no one to flick it on to, whilst our old talisman Cahill was invisible.

For those of us you who left after the 6th goal, you missed what could possibly be described as the moment of the season.  Neville picked up the ball in the centre circle, and with the grace of Pele, skill of Maradona, and locked up frustration of a constipated Vinnie Jones, he dribbled the ball past the Arsenal team and volleyed it into the top right hand corner of the net, only for it to be ruled out for being so implausible.  But we were graced with one moment of sarcastic joy as Saha tapped the ball into an open net in injury time, much to the delight of the 6 of us left in the ground.

After such an awful performance, our game on Thursday has our annual European humiliation written all over it, and if Moyes doesn’t get to grip with his players soon, our work last year to get back into Europe will once again be for nothing.

The game started with all the talk about Sir Alex Ferguson’s team selection. As we reported on Friday Wayne Rooney missed out, however that was not all. United made 8 changes with Ronaldo, Van der Sar, O’Shea and Carrick also missing. Everton fielded their strongest possible line up with a welcome return for James Vaughan on the bench.

In the first half nothing really happened. In the second half Phil Jagielka caused the talkiing point of the game by bringing down Wellbeck in the box, Mike Riley however decided against giving the penalty. Maybe the comments of David Moyes accusing him of being a United fan were in his mind? Apart from that nothing really happened. In the first period of extra time, nothing happened, then in the last 15 minutes, astonishingly, nothing happened. For many neutrals I’m sure an ITV ad break would have been welcome, the game did not live up to expectations. However it then went to penalties and Everton’s semi-final started there.

United got the first bit of luck being allocated their end of the ground for the penalties. Up stepped Tim Cahill, so often Everton’s hero, the Evertonians expectant, were shocked to see the ball blaze over. For many defeat looked inevitable, Tim Howard had never saved a penalty for the Blues and United had won their shoot-outs in the Champions League and FA Cup finals. Dimitar Berbatov stepped up to put United in front but his lazy penalty was saved by the number 24. Leighton Baines took number 2 and he made no mistake drilling the ball into the net. Tim Howard then wrote his name down into Everton folklore, saving captain Rio Ferdinand’s spot-kick to give the Blues hope. Penalties were then converted by Phil Neville, Nemanja Vidic, James Vaughan and Anderson. Phil Jagielka, the villain of Goodison Park a year ago when he missed against Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup, bravely stepped up to the plate, and buried it. Evertonians all over the world went crazy.

Next up: Chelsea – a dress rehearsel at Stamford Bridge.

A truely wonderful day. Everton will play in the FA Cup Final live on ITV 1 and Setanta Sports 1, and all over the world, at Wembley Stadium on Saturday May 30th at 3pm

These injuries gave 17 year old midfielder Jack Rodwell a chance to shine and he performed like a seasoned veteran rather than teenager. It was Rodwell who sparked the game into life after 4 minutes: Mikel Arteta’s corner was headed goalbound by Tim Cahill only for Stiliyan Petrov to save it on the line with his hand. The Park End were on their feet demanding a penalty and the dismissall of Petrov but Rodwell was on hand to fire the ball into the roof of the net.

A great start for Everton was ruined minutes later; Gabriel Agbonlahor burst into the box and was brought down by Tony Hibbert for a clear penalty with Hibbert receiving a booking from stand-in referee Martin Atkinson. James Milner stepped up and somehow managed to squeeze the ball underneath Tim Howard who was very unlucky not to save it. The booking was a blow to Everton as it was Hibbert’s 5th yellow-card of the season meaning he will be suspended for the forthcoming Premier League game. Everton were demanding a penalty of their own soon-after as Cahill appeared to be pushed but replays showed Cahill hand-balled it and deservedly went into Mr Atkinson’s book, unfortunately this was also Cahill’s 5th booking of the season.

Half way through the opening half Everton were back in front; Victor Anichebe strode into the box and was brought down by Villa’s stand-in skipper Steve Sidwell. Atkinson pointed to the spot and booked Sidwell before Arteta duly dispatched the spot-kick to restore Everton’s lead

The second half was slightly less eventful as Aston Villa wasted numerous opportunities to draw level, the highlight being John Carew’s shot that went out for an Everton throw. But this was to be Everton’s day and on 75 minutes Victor Anichebe’s cross seemed to elude everyone but there was Cahill to lift the ball over Brad Friedel from close-range. Cue pandemonium in the stands. Villa had little in response and Everton saw the game out to progress into the 6th Round for the first time since 2002. Should Everton win their quarter-final tie at home to either West Ham or Middlesborough, a Wembley trip for the semi-finals will beckon

FE Man of the Match: Special mentions go to Jack Rodwell but it has to be the outstanding Mikel Arteta who ran the show today