Everton head coach David Moyes praised Michael Keane following an “impressive” performance in the Blues’ 3-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage. The defender scored the go-ahead goal in the second half leading to a first win since April 12 for the Toffees.
Keane’s header put Everton in front after Raul Jimenez opened the scoring for the hosts in the 17th minute and Vitalii Mykolenko equalised at the stroke of half-time. Bernd Leno was sloppy in goal and unable to stop Beto’s third just minutes after what could be Keane’s last goal for the club.
The 32-year-old centre-back’s contract runs out this summer and there’s no chatter surrounding a new deal. Keane has mostly featured on the bench this season but has found some prominence recently following the injury to James Tarkowski at the back.
“Michael Keane, who has had some difficult times, played so well today and was immense for the goal off the corner,” Moyes said.
“He’s a great boy and showed his professionalism as we’ve had injuries to (Jake) O’Brien and (James) Tarkowski and we looked different at the back.”
Signed from Burnley in 2017, Keane has made 228 appearances so far for Everton. He scored his 16th goal for the club after getting his head to a corner kick taken by Dwight McNeil in the 70th minute.
Everton had an underwhelming first half where they struggled to dominate proceedings and went on the backfoot after 17 minutes.
“We were incredibly poor in the first 30 minutes but nothing had broken for us in the game either. Mykolenko’s strike went in and that gave us hope at half-time,” Moyes added.
“It hugely changed my thoughts, it gave me a chance to take a breath and I’m glad we did because the team showed themselves in the second half. We got into the game and got the victory.”