Dan James caps Fulham stroll as danger looms large for tawdry Everton

Everton had stirred under Sean Dyche, raising the prospect of a second successive escape from relegation, but Goodison Park was shaken by the grim realisation the Championship may be beckoning after all. Fulham prospered from a shambolic home display to leave Everton hovering precariously above the drop zone with three home games to play.

Without the suspended Aleksandar Mitrovic and with banned manager Marco Silva watching from the directors’ box, Fulham ended a run of five consecutive defeats in all competitions in clinical, comprehensive style. Harrison Reed, Harry Wilson and Dan James made light of the Serb centre-forward’s absence to score with ease against a frequently exposed Jordan Pickford. Everton, manager and players alike, were clueless as to how to stem the flow of white shirts slicing them to pieces. With Newcastle and Manchester City among the final three visitors to Goodison, and still no sign of Dominic Calvert-Lewin despite his return to first-team training, this was a must-win fixture for Dyche’s team. They blew up spectacularly.

On the 34th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster there was an impeccably observed minute’s silence before kick-off in memory of the 97 Liverpool fans who were unlawfully killed due to gross negligence by South Yorkshire police. Silva, accompanied by players Tom Cairney and Tim Ream, laid wreaths at the Anfield memorial on Friday night. Dyche, who was at Hillsborough on that dreadful day as a member of Nottingham Forest’s youth team, wore a black armband.

The visitors started brightly, the hosts woefully, with Willian and Antonee Robinson prospering repeatedly down the left and creating a sense of inevitability about a Fulham breakthrough. It arrived when the impressive