Schwarzer Is The Difference In Fulham's 0-0 Draw Against Everton

Mark Schwarzer has given Fulham fans reason to be worried lately with his poor play. Up to this game he was not in rare form. Well, today against Everton at Craven Cottage, Schwarzer was tremendous in net. He made key saves on shots by Yakubu Aiyegbeni. Fulham and Everton both had chances to score, but neither team could get a goal. Fulham and Everton played a 0-0 draw at Craven Cottage.   

The first half saw the visitors with more of the possession. Everton held the edge with the ball 59% of the time compared to 41% for Fulham. Even with all of that possession, Everton would find it difficult to get a goal.

Fulham on the other hand had a few opportunities in the first half. In the 35th minute, Zoltan Gera took a nice strike just outside of the box that just went wide. In the 42nd minute, Carlos Salcido sent a great cross into the box, which was headed by Dickson Ethuhu, but was saved by Tim Howard.

Everton's best chance of the first half came in the 45th minute. Mikel Arteta had a great shot on net that Mark Schwarzer deflected away at the last second. This was an excellent save. Like I mentioned earlier, even with the majority of the possession, Everton could not score. The game was scoreless at the half 0-0.   

The second half saw Fulham come out much stronger. They were really controlling the beginning of the half. Their first scoring chance came in the 54th minute. Zoltan Gera had a shot just outside of the box that just went wide of Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard.

The best chance of the game for Fulham came in the 60th minute. Clint Dempsey had a great scoring opportunity. He was inside of the box, and had a great shot on Tim Howard which he saved. This led to another opportunity by Damien Duff. His shot just went wide.

Clint Dempsey would have a quality chance to score in the 70th minute. His shot just goes wide of the net. He would have one more opportunity in the 89th minute. His shot again would be a decent opportunity, but was not on target.

Everton would have three really good scoring chances, and they were all from Yakubu Aiyegbeni. In the 77th minute, Yakubu's shot was right on target, but Mark Schwarzer made a nice save.

In stoppage time, Yakubu would have two quality chances to give Everton the victory. His first shot just goes wide of the net. His second shot was right on net, and Mark Schwarzer made the save to ensure the draw. Fulham and Everton ended the game shortly afterwards with a 0-0 draw. 

There is no question that Fulham miss Bobby Zamora and Moussa Dembele. The Cottagers struggled at times up front. The good news though was the return of Diomansy Kamara who came on as a substitute late in the game. He could be a factor up front in future matches. 

In the end Fulham struggled, but got a point out of this match. They are still undefeated this season. Let's hope they can figure out soon how to turn these draws into victories.