Midfielder Leon Osman believes Nikica Jelavic has given Everton a fear factor from which the rest of the team are benefiting.

The Croatia striker scored twice in the 4-0 victory over Fulham at Goodison Park on Saturday to take his tally to 10 since arriving in January.

Those goals have come from 10 starts and his recent run of nine goals in seven appearances have had a real impact on the club’s late-season form.

But the by-product has been goals for the rest of the side as well, as Everton scored four goals in three successive matches for the first time since 1964.

In their first 34 games they scored 34 goals, but have added 12 in their last three, in no small part thanks to the efforts of the STG5.5 million January signing from Rangers.

“Jelavic has brought obvious qualities to the team and he is scoring goals, so we are delighted,” said Osman, who made his 300th appearance for the club.

“We were all aware of what he could do when he was playing in Scotland.

“You could see he was an obvious goalscorer and when we heard we had signed him we were delighted.

“It is good to have someone up there we know we can rely on and if there are chances made he will put the ball in.

“I think the opposition are a bit scared of him because they know he can score goals and they are on the watch for him.

“When that happens, sometimes it releases space for other players in the team.”

Jelavic’s first came from the penalty spot, after Pavel Pogrebnyak had handled his free-kick, and after hitting the post Marouane Fellaini headed in the second.

The third was all down to Jelavic’s brilliance as he raced onto a pass from the excellent Steven Pienaar, who had a hand in three goals, drew Mark Schwarzer out of his goal and then fired a shot through the goalkeeper’s legs from a narrow angle.

After the break Australian substitute Tim Cahill slid in the fourth after another good passing move and a sublime scooped pass over the defence by Pienaar.

Everton are on course for their eighth top-10 finish in a decade under manager David Moyes but they could have had higher ambitions had they not had their almost traditional poor start to the campaign.

“I think we get asked that question every year,” added Osman.

“It seems to happen but there is nothing we can do about it right now; we just have to keep continuing to play the good football we are doing now.”

Everton are unbeaten in their last six matches and remain two points above near-neighbours Liverpool – whom they have finished above only once in 25 years.

“We’ve done this at this stage of the season for a few years – I wish we could have done it earlier,” said Moyes.

“If we could only get a bit better at the start then we could finish higher up but our finishes to the season over recent years have been very good.

“I always said if we could finish in the top 10 considering the start we had to the season it would be an achievement and great credit must go to the players.”

Fulham had one chance to get themselves back in the game at 2-0 when Tim Howard pulled off what Moyes described as an “excellent” save when Clint Dempsey’s shot deflected off John Heitinga.

When that dropped over the crossbar, with it went the Cottagers’ chances of ending their woeful run at Goodison Park which has seen them lose on their last 19 visits.

They return to Merseyside on Tuesday to face Liverpool and first-team coach Billy McKinlay, standing in for the ill Martin Jol, insists they have to improve.

“We will just dust ourselves down and get on with it,” he said.

“We know we can do better and we are looking forward to the game on Tuesday to put things right.

“The game comes at the right time. Although it is the end of the season we don’t want to go out on a whimper. We want to finish as strongly as possible.

“Hopefully we can come back on Tuesday and put on a performance we know we are capable of.”