Everton subjected Fulham to their 16th consecutive defeat at Goodison Park after a late Louis Saha header gave the Blues their first home win of the season.
After dominating the first half the Blues faced a much tougher second 45 with Fulham battling for every ball and crashing 2 efforts against the woodwork.
Having never dropped a point at home against the London side David Moyes' men went into the game full of confidence on the back of a 1-1 draw against Manchester United, and a 1-0 win at Bolton midweek.
Everton piled pressure on the visitors back line from the off and within the first 2 minutes a high ball into the box from Captain Phil Neville found the head of the free scoring Marouane Fellaini.
The towering midfielder expertly directed the ball to an on-rushing Tim Cahill but his swing miss allowed Fulham to clear their lines.
Making his first start for Everton in a month, Cahill looked sharp and it was his determination on 10 minutes that won the ball deep in the Fulham half and released Arteta down the left.
His whipped in cross flew straight to the head of Steven Pienaar but the young midfielder seemed surprised by the balls pace and could only direct his effort into the arms of a grateful Mark Schwarzer.
Having been camped in their own half for most of the opening 20 minutes Fulham struggled to play their way around a solid blue back line but it was Jimmy Bullard who had the first strike at goal for the visitors but his 25 yarder could only manage to find row Z.
The visitors began to string a few passes together and a ball onto the chest of Zamora on the edge of the Everton area was accurately played off to his strike partner Johnson and AJ's quick thinking rolled the ball to Bullard who once again drilled from distance but still not forcing a save from Tim Howard.
Everton looked the better side going forward and should have taken the lead just before the half hour mark after Arteta played a nice 1-2 with Yakubu and the Spaniard drove a low pass across the edge of the box to Fellaini.
Looking for his fourth goal in five matches the 20-year-old blasted his shot past a sprawling Schwarzer but straight against the foot of the post but no one was following up for the rebound.
Former Blues striker Andy Johnson had the best chance of the half when Bobby Zamora challenged Blues keeper Howard at the front post and under pressure from the striker he could only manage to palm the ball to the feet of Johnson but deciding against a first time shot from three yards he allowed the Blues to get back and clear the danger.
The second half was a much tighter game with Fulham chasing down every ball making the Everton midfield work twice as hard as the first 45 but it was Everton who had the first chance to open the scoring.
Finding himself on the left with only wing back John Pantsil to beat the tricky Spaniard performed a single step over to give himself the room to whip a ball in to Cahill who powered a header inches over the bar.
Roy Hodgson had fired up his players at half time and the response was almost instant after a Bobby Zamora cross was met by a charging Zoltan Gera who smashed his header against the bar.
Fulham were again unlucky on 72 minutes when a Jimmy Bullard free kick was blasted towards the top corner fro 25 yards but the Howard somehow managed to get a hand to the ball and palm it down in front of the goal line but straight to Zamora who shot across the face of goal but was once again denied by the woodwork.
Everton thought they had snatched the lead in the 87th minute when a long punt from Howard took one bounce and invited a challenge from substitute striker Victor Anichebe on Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer who dropped the ball into his own net but the whistle went for a foul much to the bewilderment of the entire Everton squad.
The game was won with only minutes left on the clock after a battling Leon Osman fought to keep hold of the ball deep in the Fulham half and his high cross was met with an expertly taken header from Louis Saha to open his Everton account and give his side all three points.
After the game the managers said:
Roy Hodgson: "We were lucky not to be behind after the first half as we let them have all the play and put us on the back foot.
"The second half was a much better performance and if it was just based on that then we deserved to have won.
"We missed some good chances and hit the woodwork twice so on any other day we might have gone away happy but thats football.
"Everton are a good side and we have not beaten them here for quite a while but after todays performance we know we can beat them.
"There is a good few positives we can take from the game and if we play like the second 45 then we will start picking up the points away from home."
David Moyes said: "Its always good to get your first home win and it has taken a little longer than planned but I was never worried as I knew it would happen soon enough.
"It was a good win even though we never played well but the three points are the most important thing.
"I'm glad for Louis to get his first of what I'm sure will be many goals for the club and hopefully he will take a confidence boost from this game.
"It was a terrific header and he got in a good position which is not surprising considering his talent.
"The three subs that came on changed the game and gave us that extra edge we needed to get the win.
"We are in a good position in the league with only 1 point less than last year so hopefully we can start performing like we did 12 months ago and work our way up.
"Fulham have not conceded more than 1 goal away from home all season so we knew how difficult the game would be and a lot of credit needs to go to the players as they fought for the points today and they deserved them."
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