David Moyes lauded Michael Keane’s display after the defender scored what could be his last goal for Everton as they dealt a major blow to Fulham’s European hopes. The visitors recorded a first Premier League victory since 12 April when Vitalii Mykolenko equalised and Keane’s header put them in front after Raúl Jiménez’s opener in the 17th minute.
A rare error by the goalkeeper Bernd Leno allowed Beto to grab a quickfire third for Everton before Fulham were denied the chance of a second as penalty appeals for handball were turned down by VAR in stoppage time.
Keane, whose deal runs out this summer, is expected to leave Goodison Park. “Michael Keane, who has had some difficult times, played so well and was immense for the goal off the corner,” Moyes said of the 32-year-old, who has been at the club since 2017. “He’s a great boy and showed his professionalism as we’ve had injuries to [Jake] O’Brien and [James] Tarkowski and we looked different at the back.”
Emile Smith Rowe’s lofted cross set up Jiménez to power home the opener with his head before Mykolenko’s shot from the edge of the area took a heavy deflection off Andreas Pereira to draw Everton level in first-half stoppage time.
Keane’s header from a Dwight McNeil corner came in the 70th minute and Beto’s shot bobbled beneath Leno three minutes later as Everton sealed three points in the capital. “We were incredibly poor in the first 30 minutes but nothing had broken for us in the game either. Mykolenko’s strike went in and that gave us hope at half-time,” Moyes said.
“It hugely changed my thoughts. It gave me a chance to take a breath and I’m glad we did because the team showed themselves in the second half. We got into the game and got the victory.”
It was a disappointing defeat for Fulham as Brentford and Brighton, who are also vying for eighth place to qualify for the Conference League, took three points on Saturday. “We have to blame ourselves,” their manager, Marco Silva, said.
“In the first 30 minutes we were dominant, scored a great goal and we built our attacking situations. But after the 30th minute and our goal and some chances from Alex [Iwobi], you need to be ruthless and clinical and we weren’t.”
