Player ratings: Fulham 0-0 Everton

Written by George Rossiter on 30th October 2022

George Rossiter looks back at the Fulham performances in a stalemate at the Cottage.

Fulham made it four games unbeaten in the Premier League with a goalless draw at home to Everton, with a display that deserved more in front of a vibrant Fulham crowd, leaving the Whites comfortably in the top half ahead of games with the two Manchester clubs.

Bernd Leno

A second clean sheet in successive home games for Leno, and a thoroughly earned one at that. While Fulham dominated the proceedings in the second half, the German had to make a string of saves in the first half, as did Jordan Pickford at the other end, to keep the game at 0-0. 7.5/10

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Bobby De Cordova-Reid

It may be a blessing in disguise that Kenny Tete has returned from injury just as Bobby picked up a fifth yellow card of the season. While his defensive efforts in an unfamiliar position have been admirable, his inability to stick with his defensive line was once again on show, as he was caught out positionally on a number of occasions. 6/10

Issa Diop

Once again there was a change at the back, as Diop returned in place of Tosin, and it seemed to be the right move. Diop commanded the back line, frequently getting the better of Everton’s forwards with his strength. It looks increasingly likely that the Frenchman is playing his way into a more frequent starting role. 7.5/10

Tim Ream

As I saw someone say on Twitter after the game, it is very rare that a player finds that next step in their career in their 30s, but Ream continues to at the age of 35, and it’s hard to keep finding superlatives for the consistency and composure he is showing at Premier League level, another really solid showing here against Everton. 7/10

Antonee Robinson

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I think this was one of Jedi’s best games for the club, it encompassed everything he can do when he’s at his best. At one end he defended brilliantly on the front foot, covering for others whenever needed with his lightning speed. At the other end, that speed was put to use to consistently bomb past Seamus Coleman and create chances as a result. 9/10 – Man of the match

Joao Palhinha

Everyone loves a midfielder who enjoys a tackle just as much as a striker enjoys scoring a goal, and we have that in Palhinha, with two crunching tackles in succession particularly coming to mind. Remarkably, the walking yellow card that Palhinha seemed to be, is yet to receive another booking since his suspension, which is a huge added bonus. 7.5/10

Harrison Reed

A typical Harrison Reed performance, box-to-box, side-to-side, covering every inch of grass on the park. While everyone is quick to point out the improvements made to Mitrovic under Marco Silva, the same should be said of Reed, whose move to a more advanced number eight role with more creative freedom continues to see him flourish. 7/10

Andreas Pereira

A strange performance from Pereira. On the eye he looked good, turning every Everton player inside out on a number of occasions with a haul of Cruyff-like turns around the pitch. However, nothing really came from Pereira on the ball, for all the skill on show. 6.5/10

Willian

Rarely have we seen a player with such class find space and time on the ball so easily like the little Brazilian does. He continues to turn heads in the Hammersmith End, just as he first did playing for Shakhtar in Europe all those years ago. Every touch, every pass, everything the man does just seems so precisely wonderful. 8.5/10

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Neeskens Kebano

Kebano is a great example of what a direct player can do when the manager has confidence in them. A player who was maybe deemed as a Championship level player by some, continues to show how dangerous he can be running one-on-one at Premier League defenders, including Coleman and Mykolenko here. 7/10

Aleksandar Mitrovic

10 shots, zero goals. It was one of those days for Mitro who just could not find the net at all. His hold-up play and positional awareness was brilliant as ever, and on another day he’d have scored a hat-trick, but not this time. The one thing that maybe went his way was that he stayed on the pitch for the full 90, after a poor tackle on Gueye. 6/10