Goodison Park was bouncing as the game kicked off and the Everton players were clearly feeding off the energy as they almost took the lead inside 40 seconds as Neal Maupay found space inside the box before driving a low effort inches wide of the post.
Fulham also started off positively and the game was end-to-end throughout much of the first half but both sides were suffering from the same problem, their finishing.
Michael Keane thought he had found the breakthrough though, sweeping home a loose ball following an Everton corner but his goal was disallowed for a foul on Bernd Leno, much to the displeasure of the Merseyside faithful.
Maupay, who is in need of a goal after scoring just once in his last 40 club appearances, should have ended that barren run in the first half but when sent through on goal, his effort was pushed away by Leno - with that summing up the first half, lack of cutting edge in front of goal.
The home side continued playing in a positive manner in the second half with Alex Iwobi in particular looking the most threatening as Sean Dyche’s men continued their pursuit of an opening goal.
Iwobi almost broke the deadlock with a fantastic shot on goal but once again, Leno was on hand to deny Everton from taking the lead, but Nathan Patterson had no excuses for not finding the breakthrough as he crashed the rebound against the crossbar.
As is often the case in football, the side creating the most chances were made to pay for their wastefulness as Fulham opened the scoring. Andrea Pereira did well to keep the ball from going out of play before sliding the ball across the face of goal for Bobby De Cordova-Reid to tap in.
With the one-goal lead, the visitors dominated from there-on as Everton struggled to fashion a clear goalscoring opportunity, as they were condemned to an opening day defeat.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Bernd Leno (Fulham)