Fulham sink Everton on penalties to reach semis

Tosin Adarabioyo was the hero, converting the winning spot-kick in the shootout, as Fulham beat Everton on penalties to reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.

Marco Silva's men were triumphant here in the opening game of the campaign courtesy of a smash-and-grab victory and they went home to London victorious once again.

The opener came four minutes before half-time via Michael Keane's own goal, with the Everton defender diverting the ball into his own net from Antonee Robinson's cross.

The hosts could have hit back immediately but James Tarkowski was unable to get enough of a firm connection on James Garner's free-kick and flicked his headed effort narrowly off target.

Everton searched for the equaliser in the second period and Jack Harrison fizzed a long-range drive just wide before substitute Beto headed in from close range with nine minutes remaining.

The game went to penalties with Bobby De Cordova-Reid seeing his effort saved by Jordan Pickford and Amadou Onana's having a weak effort kept out by Bernd Leno, before Tosin sent the travelling fans into raptures.

The draw for the semi-finals takes place on Wednesday, with the first leg of those ties being played in the week commencing 8 January.

Fulham march on

Fulham have never won a major trophy, but perhaps this could be their time. They reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 2002 when they were knocked out by Chelsea, and their long wait to reach the last four of a domestic cup again ended on Merseyside on Tuesday night.

They battled through the contest and had only one shot on target, which came in the sixth minute when former Toffee Alex Iwobi's caressed shot was batted out by Pickford.

Keane went from hero to villain, netting an own goal to follow his man-of-the-match performance in Saturday's 2-0 victory at Burnley.

It looked like the hosts were heading out in normal time, but Beto nodded home for the leveller and Arnaut Danjuma could have won it in injury time but sent his sweetly struck volley wide.

Everton had been the better side for much of the encounter - Jarrad Branthwaite, deployed at left-back in the absence of Vitaliy Mykolenko, headed straight at Leno and Dwight McNeil fired over from an acute angle.

But Sean Dyche will be left wondering what might have been on his first appearance in the quarter-finals of this competition as a manager. He watched on as Onana's weak spot-kick to win it was kept out by Fulham's German goalkeeper before Tosin sent the visiting side through.

Despite their 10-point deduction, Everton have been in impressive form in the Premier League, winning their last four games to climb up the table, so this exit will be seen as a missed opportunity to end their long wait for silverware which stretches back to lifting the FA Cup back in 1995.