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Leon Osman scored twice as Everton beat Fulham 2-0 at Craven Cottage to secure fifth place in the Premier League, with the Whites also qualifying for the Europa League despite defeat.

It was a rare home loss for Roy Hodgson's side, but Liverpool's 3-1 win over Tottenham meant that Fulham maintained their two-point advantage over Spurs to hold on to seventh place.

Osman struck just before half-time and with two minutes remaining as David Moyes's side claimed a hard-fought win against a Fulham side who were unable to match their crisp passing with a finish.

The lifelong Evertonian latched on to Steven Pienaar's pass and rounded Mark Schwarzer before finishing from a tight angle for the opener.

The move came about after an uncharacteristically poor piece of defending from Fulham, who dilly-dallied when a harmless long ball was sent their way.

His second was a work of class, though. After incessant Fulham pressure in the second half, Osman turned on the edge of the box and sent a wonderful, curling shot past Schwarzer into the left-hand side of the goal.

Fulham had their chances, but were unable to take them.

Erik Nevland drilled just wide on 10 minutes, Zoltan Gera headed straight at Tim Howard from close range six minutes later while the USA keeper saved well from the same man five minutes after that.

Schwarzer made a good stop of his own from the impressive Louis Saha, returning to his former club and leading the line with power and skill.

Diomansy Kamara had a great chance when he was found free at the far post by Gera, but he panicked and lashed the ball wildly wide when he had time and space to take a touch or even play Gera back in.

Osman struck soon afterwards after Fulham pressed the self-destruct button to give the visitors the edge going into half-time.

The second half saw Fulham press and press but rarely create anything meaningful thanks to some robust defending from Everton and some average finishing of their own.

Kamara had a penalty appeal waved away, while Dickson Etuhu fired just wide after a quick counter attack.

Bobby Zamora came off the bench and should have scored but headed over from close range.

Indeed the former West Ham and Spurs man would be an international striker if he could compliment his quality with his back to goal with any kind of shooting ability, shown when he fired straight at Howard when put clean through.

Three minutes after that miss, Osman scored to seal the three points for an Everton side who, with Mikel Arteta, Ayegbeni Yakubu and Phil Jagielka fit next season, could challenge the top four.

Everton face Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday May 30 - follow LIVE on Eurosport-Yahoo!

Reda Maher / Eurosport