Speaking to The ECHO, Bernard said that his Brazilian teammate Jo has been keeping a close watch on his progress at Goodison Park and has the ambition of making a comeback with the club, he said: “Jo watched my first game against Leicester and sent me a message saying he was really happy with my performance. He told me the club was an excellent and great club with an extra-ordinary structure. He also said he would like to play here again. With the mindset he has, he is a lot more mature and a totally different person, a changed guy, really focused.”

Jo spent the backend of the 2008/09 campaign on loan with the Toffees after struggling to adjust to the style of play at Manchester City whom he joined from CSKA Moscow six months before. He made a quick impression with five goals from 12 appearances and that saw him rewarded with another year’s loan with the Merseyside club.

However, his second loan stint was far from successful after he was suspended by manager David Moyes for going to Brazil for Christmas without intimation and the deal was terminated shortly after. Since then, the marksman has spent time with Internacional, Corinthians and he is currently in the ranks of Nagoya Grampus, where he has scored 26 times from 37 appearances.

Everton boss Marco Silva has been widely fancied to pursue a potent goalscorer during the summer but a move for Jo appears wide off the mark, considering his age. Dominic Calvert-Lewin is currently the first-choice marksman in the club’s ranks but he has not been able to find the consistency in terms of scoring despite impressing with the hold-up play and movement.

Jagielka has not been featuring very often in the Everton team this season. The 36-year-old is towards the tail-end of his career and he has only featured in five games in the league this season. There have been just three starts for Jagielka prior to the appearance against Fulham. This is in comparison with the 2017-18 campaign when Jagielka featured in a respectable 23 starts. The lack of game time appeared to show, as Jagielka was constantly bullied by Fulham’s attackers, who eventually got the better in the second half with two goals. Jagielka’s performance received a lot of criticism on social media but the manager was quick to defend the veteran centre back.

“It’s easy to look just at one player.If you want to say that we lost because of Jagielka, you are completely wrong. It was not. The team didn’t perform, and if you want to look for just one player it’s a big mistake,” said Jagielka. It is widely expected that Jagielka will be leaving Everton at the end of the campaign. His contract only has a few months to run and Everton are unlikely to renew the deal based on his recent performance.

After a goalless first half, the hosts were able to get goals from Tom Cairney and Ryan Babel in the second half. It should be noted that Fulham have already been relegated from the Premier League and they are only playing for pride in the remainder of the campaign. Silva admitted after the match that Everton did not do enough in order to get three points at Craven Cottage. The defeat was a missed opportunity for Everton, who also watched Leicester City and Wolves lose during the weekend. There is still hope of Everton finishing in the top seven with four matches left.

“It was a disappointing result and a disappointing performance. I didn’t expect this because we’ve been on a good run, and we’ve been in good confidence also. We knew it would be difficult playing here. Fulham played with character to achieve something for them, and they were more aggressive and faster than us. We didn’t perform in the way we needed to in order to win the match. I expected them [to play with pride] and it’s what I expected from my players too. All of us inside the dressing room knew this,” said Silva.

As such, they have already dropped a massive 18 points behind the top six and the deficit could extend further this weekend, where they do not have a fixture scheduled. Speaking to the club’s official website, Keane has spoken about the disappointing run of form for the Toffees and believes such things should not happen with a team possessing quality throughout the squad.

He added that the aim is to propel higher up the table before the season close with the quality of players within the ranks, he told: “We have shown how good we can be and that we can consistently play well. We see each other train every day, we know we are good players and we have a top-class manager, so we just need to stick together.

“The aim is to get on a run like we did earlier this season and move as high up the table as possible. If you have just been promoted and go on a bad run, you might wonder if you have the quality to compete in this league. But if you look around our dressing room, there is so much quality and we should be higher in the table with the players we have.”

Despite Keane’s positive comments, the Toffees don’t have a friendly schedule between now and the end of the season and they require a huge upturn in momentum, if they are to remain in the top half of the table before the campaign concludes. While the Toffees have winnable games on the road, the home schedule is difficult on paper with Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and the recently resurgent Burnley to face before the end of the season.

Speaking after the game, Silva highlighted that he was impressed with the performance of Lookman after his comeback from an injury. He added that he would like both Lookman and Bernard to score more often for the club in order to reduce the burden on the regulars finding the net, he said: “He did well. When Lookman got injured he was in a good moment and doing very well.”

“Now he is coming back. He is a different player than the other wingers. The goal was important to him. “One of the things we spoke about was that Lookman and Bernard have to score more. I told him some things I want in his game: to define moments when we have to put speed in our attack. He can see many things in our attack other players cannot see. I am sure he will improve more and more.”

Lookman had spent the second half of the previous campaign on loan with RB Leipzig where he impressed with five goals and three assists in the Bundesliga. As such, it appeared that the Bundesliga outfit could prise him away on a permanent basis during the summer but the Toffees remained firm on their not-for-sale stance on the forward.

Since then, Lookman has not managed a regular starting role but he could do so during the backend of the campaign after showing glimpses of his old self during the recent Cup game. Lookman has managed 11 appearances in the Premier League this term but only one of those has resulted from the starting lineup.

As such, they had to succumb to their first defeat of the month but the supporters were appreciative of the efforts of the team throughout the game. Speaking to Everton TV, Silva was pleased with the performance of his side on the road and feels were satisfied despite their failure to pick up three points on the day.

He said: “We are improving as a team. We are able to compete in this type of game and that is really important for us. It shows that we are growing as a team. The players are believing in the messages that we are giving to them. They are working hard in the week to perform at the level that we saw against Manchester United. You could see the fans giving them an ovation at the end of the match and that reflects that. The fans were unhappy at the result, like us, but they kept believing in us and for sure we will be stronger again next week.”

With the feat, Everton have dropped to ninth on the table behind Manchester United but they have the opportunity to redeem themselves when Brighton & Hove Albion make the trip to Goodison Park next weekend. Thereafter, the Toffees have difficult away games at Chelsea and Liverpool to contend but between those, they are scheduled to face Cardiff City in their home patch. The Bluebird have struggled to make a solid start since their Premier League comeback and they are currently just ahead of the drop zone on goal difference to Fulham.

Speaking to Everton TV, Digne admitted that the switch to Merseyside may have enhanced his return to the national side after he previously failed to make the squad for the global tournament in Russia, he said: “I think it (moving to Everton) is so important to my recall. When I came here I wanted to play every week, to enjoy it and discover a new country, a new league, and then see what happens (with France), but now I am so happy. I want to say thank you to my team-mates, the coach and the staff and the fans too because they helped me a lot to get the recall.”

Digne made the move to Everton from Barcelona during the summer transfer window after they assured him of regular gametime under manager Marco Silva. Initially, the Frenchman found himself out of the starting lineup with Leighton Baines occupying the left-back spot but he has managed to win over the head coach thereafter and has started the Toffees’ last five Premier League matches.

The former Lille graduate is expected to play second fiddle to Lucas Hernandez for France’s upcoming games against Iceland and Germany but he could get sometime against the former with the game being an international friendly. Meanwhile, France are already up to four points from just two matches in their Nations League group and they have the opportunity to firm the top position, should they overcome Joachim Loew’s side at the Stade de France.