Prince Rupert's Tower
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Fulham 2 Everton 0: Blues winning run ends

By Matt Townsend

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 13: Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Everton is challenged by Tim Ream of Fulham during the Premier League match between Fulham FC and Everton FC at Craven Cottage on April 13, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 13: Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Everton is challenged by Tim Ream of Fulham during the Premier League match between Fulham FC and Everton FC at Craven Cottage on April 13, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images) /
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Well that was short-lived wasn’t it? After three consecutive Premier League wins, Everton once again slumped to defeat against a struggling team away from home.

I said in my match preview that I was worried this might happen. Everton have had an uncanny ability to slip up when going away to a team that they really should be beating.

And also Fulham had nothing to lose and might respond to having been finally relegated. So it was again as the Blues went to west London and were beaten 2-0 by a Fulham side somewhat released by the burden of fighting what had seemed virtually inevitable.

It seems then that the Toffees can often only raise their game when they’re playing the bigger sides. Everton produced their best away effort at Anfield and took a point at home to Liverpool and beat Chelsea and Arsenal.

This is a problem Everton must address if they are to make any genuine progress over the next few seasons. It’s axiomatic that the best teams very rarely slip up when playing lower league sides.

This was also a really poor result given the context as Watford had been playing in the FA Cup, Leicester City lost last night and Wolves were beaten, giving the Toffees a great chance to move up the table.

So a big missed chance. I really don’t know why this happens so often. How it is a team can produce a performance of such verve and quality as last Sunday and then lose so tamely this weekend?

I can only assume it is a lack of concentration and motivation, something that is worrying and needs to be addressed by Marco Silva and his coaches.

Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic was probably their best player although Tom Cairney had a fine match too.

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Mitrovic had a good game leading the line for the Cottagers. He surprisingly provided much more of a challenge to the Everton defence than Arsenal’s strikers did last Sunday.

While Mitrovic is a strong direct forward he shouldn’t have caused that much difficulty but it underlines how Blue’s defenders have struggled with more physical types all season long.

I haven’t got a lot else to add at the moment but more might follow as we digest this latest demoralising defeat.