Fulham will be missing key player for Everton fixture as boss Silva admits to below-par display against Villa

Joachim Andersen will miss Fulham’s trip to Everton this weekend as he serves his ban for being dismissed in Saturday’s loss to Aston Villa.

The former Palace centre-back was sent off in the second half of the west Londoners’ 3-1 loss at Craven Cottage after brushing Ollie Watkins over as the pair chased a through ball.

But Whites head coach Marco Silva felt the Danish international made minimal contact with Watkins – adding he thought the directive to officials was not to penalise soft touches.

Raul Jimenez put Fulham ahead as he finished off a long kick by goalkeeper Bernd Leno.

But crucially the hosts failed to regain the lead in the first half, Andreas Pereira producing a poor penalty which was saved by Emi Martinez.

“We can talk about being a bit unlucky on the afternoon – two own goals and missing a penalty – but we have to be honest it was not our best performance,” said Silva.

“After that [penalty miss] I felt the team looked a bit more nervous but before that we were not playing at our level.

“The moments that had an impact in the game were all against us and all for Villa. It decided the game.

“In the decisive moments they punished us.”

Jimenez scored his fifth goal of the season – also netting for Mexico three days earlier in a friendly win over USA.

Silva said: “I have to praise him for the hard work that he put in on the pitch. I was thinking of protecting him in the last minutes of the game.”

PICTURE: PA