Even with Newcastle enjoying a 14-day pause from competitive action before an FA Cup fourth-round tie with Fulham, who only had three days to recuperate from their EFL Cup exit at the hands of Liverpool, the Magpies’ performance at Craven Cottage left a lot to be desired.
Nevertheless, Silva’s toothless side lacked the required cutting edge to beat Martin Dubravka – barring Willian’s disallowed goal early in the second period – and efforts from Sean Longstaff and erstwhile Cottagers defender Dan Burn did the damage in West London.
However, Fulham were up in arms when Longstaff’s strike sailed into the net, having believed that the ball deflected into the midfielder’s path via the arm of Bruno Guimaraes, but the VAR room saw no reason to disallow the goal, and the wall of green shirts held firm against Fulham’s pitiful attacks in the second period.
Reeling from two cup exits in the space of a week, Fulham’s only focus between now and June is escaping an unlucky 13th place in the Premier League table, having seen their top-half aspirations take a significant hit over the winter period with four losses from five top-flight outings.
Silva’s men were full value for their terrific win over Arsenal on New Year’s Eve, but fixtures with Chelsea, Bournemouth, Burnley and Newcastle have ended with the Cottagers failing to glean one point or even score one goal. However, 18 of their 24 points this season – and 19 of their 28 goals – have been accrued at Craven Cottage.
fact, not since sinking Everton at Goodison Park on the opening weekend of the season have Fulham come up trumps on the road, and the Toffees faithful were coincidentally subjected to more Merseyside misery when Luton paid a visit for the weekend’s FA Cup contest.
Four months on from suffering a 2-1 league defeat to the Hatters on their own turf, Luton lightning struck twice for Sean Dyche’s dejected crop, who were denied a place in the fifth round by virtue of Vitaliy Mykolenko’s own goal and Cauley Woodrow’s injury-time winner either side of a fortuitous Jack Harrison equaliser.
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By succumbing to Luton’s superiority, Everton relinquished their unbeaten streak and unblemished defensive record which had stood since the turn of the year, although holding Aston Villa to a goalless draw either side of stunting Crystal Palace in successive FA Cup fixtures was no mean feat.
That point against the Lions represents Everton’s only one from the last 12 on offer, though – a disheartening sequence which leaves the 17th-placed Toffees just one point clear of the drop zone – all the while the threat of additional Financial Fair Play-related sanctions loom over their heads.
Nevertheless, the Toffees travel to the capital with five Premier League away wins under their belt this season – more than in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns combined – but they have suffered four losses from their last five against Fulham, who prevailed in a nail-biting penalty shootout in last month’s EFL Cup quarter-finals.
