Craven Cottage Newsround

Some of us expressed a latent appreciation for the Toffees this past week here at CCN. Today they did everything required but win a penalty shootout, failing to advance to the quarter-finals of the competition.

Personally, I was hoping for the game to go to extra time and then for Everton to win it in the dying minutes. This would have guaranteed some tired legs when Everton come to visit on Sunday. But I did want the Toffees to advance. However, Fiorentina won the penalties and advanced to the next round.

Everton seemed to dominate in almost every aspect of the game played at Goodison Park in front of their home supporters. They were 2 goals down going into the second leg of the competition with Fiorentina, but the Toffees fought hard all night and showed why they’re tied for 4th place in the Premiership, battling back to score 2 goals and tie Fiorentina 2-2 on aggregate.

So how will this affect Everton as they come to Craven Cottage to play Fulham on Sunday? Well, your guess is as good as anyone’s but, you would have to believe that Fulham will have fresher legs. A Saturday game would have been even more of an advantage for Fulham as Everton played 120 minutes of all out football. They also showed today what a quality side they are, and the loss may push them all the harder to stay in that 4th position in the table. A place that if they can keep until the end of the season will enable the Toffees a Champions League berth next fall. They are currently tied with Liverpool.