Everton sink to bottom of Premier League after draw with Fulham

Bill Kenwright made a social call at Everton's London hotel on Friday evening and although the team got a better-than-usual result at Fulham the next day and left there with only a fourth point from 10 attempts, the rest of the owner's weekend would have been blighted by the fact that his club are now bottom of the league. West Ham United's surprise toppling of Tottenham Hotspur did for Everton, the only side in the four divisions still to record a league victory, and with autumn already upon us three points are well overdue if the supporters' minimum requirement of a top-six finish is to be achieved. "We stayed at the same hotel last year and Bill Kenwright visited us then, too," said the captain, Phil Neville. "I don't think it was a rallying cry, but it was nice to see him. He is a fan and to see him there made us aware we are all in this together. If we lose, nobody gets criticised more than the chairman – it always tends to be his fault. We take responsibility, it's our fault and we are where we are because of the players and nobody else." Three points from six games equals Everton's haul at the same point in the 2005-06 season, when they won the second match but had to wait until the end of October for another league victory. With a trip to Birmingham City – unbeaten at home for 12 months – coming up on Saturday, it may be that David Moyes' side are in the unusual position of looking at their next home game, against Liverpool, as the best chance of securing that elusive win. "The manager has been into us all week and we had a reaction against Fulham," Neville said, "but we need to start getting three points now. You can't say anything for certain, but I don't see this season as being a relegation fight. When I joined the club five years ago we didn't win for something like 10 games. I remember saying to Leon Osman: 'You don't think we'll get relegated, do you?' and he said: 'Don't worry, Everton are traditionally slow starters and our spirit will show through.' That little comment has stayed with me throughout my Everton career." There was no shortage of endeavour on Everton's part at Craven Cottage and they looked the more accomplished side as they pinged the ball around in midfield and tried to work an opening, only for their efforts to fall down as the labouring Yakubu Ayegbeni and his limping support man, Tim Cahill, failed to capitalise. The Australian's availability after a two‑game absence – he lasted an hour with a heavily strapped knee – allowed Moyes to field a team featuring square pegs in square holes for a change, but with Louis Saha and Victor Anichebe injured, James Vaughan on loan at Crystal Palace and Jermaine Beckford struggling to adapt, he lacked the options to give Fulham a working over. Maybe the manager can find a use for the struggling £9m midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov up front. "We probably had the best chances but we couldn't take them," Moyes said. "Fulham's notoriously been a difficult game for us, but we were good value for the points. We don't look like a bottom-of-the-league team but we are, so we have to get out of it." Mikel Arteta had a 25-yarder well saved in the first half and Yakubu, who might have done better with a low cross from Seamus Coleman, had two more chances in injury time but put the first wide and mis-hit a sitter at Mark Schwarzer, allowing Fulham a fifth draw of the season, to maintain their unbeaten start in the league. "It was a decent point for us," said their manager, Mark Hughes, who has his own problems with injured strikers but will welcome Andrew Johnson back to first-team training tomorrow. "Everton are in a false position. They have played well in most of the games I have seen and in the end we were indebted to Mark's great save."