Our Everton writers select their teams and line-ups for Saturday's Premier League clash against Fulham at Hill Dickinson Stadium
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 20: Beto of Everton reacts during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on September 20, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Beto has only scored one Premier League goal so far this season for Everton
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Everton return to Premier League action on Saturday when they play host to Fulham. While a battle between 14th and 15th in the Premier League would not suggest it's a big game, in reality it is.
Certainly for Everton. Memories of a positive start to the campaign are beginning to fade after a run of just one win in their past eight matches in all competitions.
Monday's 1-1 draw at Sunderland, which saw the Blues play excellently for 30 minutes before fading badly, has raised more questions than answers going into the showdown with a Fulham side who have yet to win away from home in the league this season but who did run out 3-0 winners at Craven Cottage last weekend against basement boys Wolves.
So how does David Moyes play it? Keep faith with the same starting line-up to the one he selected at the Stadium of Light in the hope they can translate that positive opening half-hour into a longer spell of dominance? Or mix things up?
Our writers have their say...
Joe Thomas
Judging precisely where Everton are right now is tough. On the one hand I would like to see a few tweaks to the starting XI. On the other, for the first 30 minutes the Blues were excellent against Sunderland and could have put that game out of sight.
I think the wider issue is less the first XI and more what happens when the tide of momentum turns against David Moyes' team. They seem to struggle to win back control, both on the pitch and then through the timing and personnel of the substitutions.
I do think Everton will need more of a presence in the middle against Fulham, though. Sander Berge is a 6ft 4in powerhouse in front of a centre-back pairing of Calvin Bassey and Joachim Andersen and the three of them could bully an Everton attack out of the game if Moyes is not careful.
As a starting point, Beto comes in for Thierno Barry because I think he is more capable of knocking that defensive trio around - it was Beto, of course, who stole into space in stoppage time to win the Blues an unlikely point in this game last year.
The question for me then becomes whether to replace Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for Merlin Rohl or Carlos Alcaraz. I am a big fan of Dewsbury-Hall and would like to see him sit deeper in the midfield but against Fulham I would adopt a different approach.
He battles hard and is tougher than his intelligence on the ball would suggest, but Rohl has more physical stature and Alcaraz is more of a street fighter.
Given Alcaraz was so effective against this opposition in the win at Craven Cottage last season, and that he seems to be the best at getting something out of Beto, he gets the nod from me.
My team (4-2-3-1): Pickford; O'Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Gueye, Garner; Ndiaye, Alcaraz, Grealish; Beto.
Chris Beesley
With David Moyes having insisted top scorer Iliman Ndiaye is “fine” to face Fulham, there’s only one real selection dilemma for the visit of Marco Silva’s side.
The debates over whether Merlin Rohl should be included in a midfield shake-up can wait until after the final international break of the calendar year with assessments over just where this new-look Blues side is and whether they need to adopt a fresh approach. For now, it’s just the question that has been raging all season, who is going to play up front?
It’s a burning issue that will continue so long as both of Everton’s strikers fail to impress. Thierno Barry got the nod at Sunderland and there were some decent moments – his knockdown to fashion James Garner’s chance in the opening seconds and winning the ball for Ndiaye in the build-up to the Blues’ goal.
But on the flip side, there was then the £27m summer signing missing a sitter at the back post from Jack Grealish’s cross and another needless and petulant yellow card from the France Under-21 international for a rash challenge, following on from his booking in the Carabao Cup exit at Wolves for booting the ball into advertising hoardings under the nose of the assistant referee.
But whether we try to calculate with the pluses outweigh the minuses for Barry at the Stadium of Light, consider this. Beto has scored three goals for Everton against Fulham, netting in both last season’s fixtures plus the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat in December 2023. So, horses for courses, the Blues’ number nine goes back in on the Hill Dickinson Stadium job share arrangement.
My team (4-2-3-1): Pickford; O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Gueye, Garner; Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish; Beto.
Connor O'Neill
Thierno Barry might have looked devastated when he was taken off against Sunderland - but the harsh reality was that David Moyes had clearly seen enough.
Moyes cut a frustrated figure for most of the game against Sunderland as he saw his side again waste a host of chances in front of goal.
But the chance Barry missed with Everton 1-0 up looked to me to be the final straw, not just in terms of the game at the Stadium of Light, but this afternoon’s clash against Fulham.
To put it simply, I think this afternoon is the first time we will see Iliman Ndiaye lead the line, with both Beto and Barry starting on the bench.
Charly Alcaraz didn’t cover himself in glory against the Black Cats, but he deserves the opportunity to start behind Ndiaye.
However, one suspects he will start on the other flank to Jack Grealish, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall playing in the No.10 role.
In midfield, Merlin Rohl should partner Idrissa Gueye in the middle of the pitch, with James Garner moving to right-back in place of Jake O’Brien.
Jordan Pickford, James Tarkowski, Michael Keane and Vitalii Mykolenko should then make up the rest of the Everton starting line-up.
My team (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Garner, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Gueye, Rohl; Alcaraz, Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish; Ndiaye.