Everton kept their hopes of beating Liverpool to a Europa League spot alive with victory over Fulham.
Spaniard keeps Toffees in the Hunt
Everton kept their hopes of beating local rivals Liverpool to a Europa League spot alive with a 2-1 victory over Fulham at Goodison Park.
In a game that looked to be petering out into a draw, with Fulham seemingly weathering Everton's final throw of attacks, Tim Cahill won a penalty in the 93rd minute to give Mikel Arteta the chance to seal all three points for the home side.
The Spaniard did not disappoint, smashing the ball low into the left-hand corner to send Mark Schwarzer the wrong way with what was practically the last kick of the game.
The victory was a welcome present for David Moyes, as he celebrated his 47th birthday with a win that keeps Everton in the hunt for seventh place, but Fulham's woes away from Craven Cottage continued in a game they were leading at half-time thanks to Erik Nevland's cool finish.
With Thursday's second leg of Fulham's semi-final against Hamburg in mind, boss Roy Hodgson made nine changes for this game, coming within seconds of ending a run of 16 successive defeats at Goodison Park.
Although Nevland gave Fulham a 36th minute lead against the run of play, Victor Anichebe hauled his side level five minutes after his arrival as a half-time substitute before Arteta stroked home a face-saving winner deep into injury time.
Changes
You can hardly blame Hodgson for making as many changes as he did, with arguably the most high-profile game in the club's history looming.
Hodgson rested eight players - Paul Konchesky, Aaron Hughes, Danny Murphy, Dickson Etuhu, Damien Duff, Zoltan Gera, Brede Hangeland and Simon Davies - with Bobby Zamora nursing an Achilles injury.
For the first 36 minutes of the game they were over-run and barely in the match as Everton created, and wasted, a host of chances.
The first of those came after 30 seconds as Mark Schwarzer, one of only two survivors from Thursday's goalless first leg in Hamburg, smothered a 20-yard snap shot from Tim Cahill, making his 200th appearance for the Toffees in all competitions.
That set the tone, yet remarkably Schwarzer was never called upon again until late in the first half when he stopped a deflected effort from Yakubu on the line.
However, the right-hand post came to his aid in the second minute as Diniyar Bilyaletdinov cracked a left-foot volley against the base after Tony Hibbert had floated over a right-wing cross.
One-way traffic followed with Cahill off target with a free header, Yakubu dragging a shot past the post after an error from defender Chris Smalling, whilst Cahill also drilled another low effort wide.
What would have been an untried Fulham rearguard defended stoutly, putting bodies in the way.
But then nine minutes from the break Fulham scored their first away league goal since a 3-2 defeat at Stoke on January 5, ending a blank seven-game run.
It came courtesy of a howler from Leighton Baines, who played a nonchalant pass to Tim Howard without looking, allowing Nevland to nip in and flick the ball over the advancing American goalkeeper.
Nevland's fourth this season also ended Fulham's goal drought on Merseyside - against both Everton and Liverpool - at nine hours and 14 minutes, with their last in a 4-1 defeat at Goodison in April 2007.
Fulham should have added a second shortly before the break when Stefano Okaka lofted a delightful chip into the area for Clint Dempsey to run onto, but with only Howard to beat, he volleyed
