Royston Drenthe gave David Moyes's troops a first-half lead with a third-minute screamer, before Fulham's second-half substitute Bryan Ruiz came off the bench to level the scores with a breathtaking chip.
But Ruiz was then guilty of spurning a golden opportunity to win the game late on, which was only bettered by arguably the miss of the season from Bobby Zamora.
While the hosts were left questioning their wastefulness, the visitors swept up the other end and punished the hosts for the spendthrift shooting with two quickfire goals from Rodwell and Saha.
The game was barely three minutes old when Rodwell stumbled through a string of challenges before laying the ball into the path of Drenthe, who slammed a left-foot howitzer past Mark Schwarzer from 20 yards.
This goal gave the visitors the impetus to push on as Marouane Fellaini and Rodwell both went close with headers from Leighton Baines crosses.
Apostolos Vellios should have doubled the guests' advantage when he met Tony Hibbert's cross from the right, but his misguided header sailed over the bar.
With 30 minutes on the clock, Fulham finally awoke from their slumber and pressed for an equaliser.
A 20-yard shot from Danny Murphy thumped against the post, before rebounding off Tim Howard and spinning over the bar.
The Everton goalkeeper then had to get down low to his right to palm away an effort from Clint Dempsey.
He was called into action again when a long throw from John Arne Riise found Brede Hangeland and the big defender sent a header goalwards. The American goalkeeper comfortably tipped the ball over the bar.
Before the referee brought the first half to an end, Dempsey hit a curling shot from the edge of the box just past the top left hand corner.
Fulham started the second half how they finished the first and should have been level when Hangeland rose to meet a free kick from Murphy.
The Norwegian sent a header wide of the post, when he should have crashed the ball into the back of the net from close range.
But from then on the game descended into a scrappy affair, with neither team stamping their authority until a moment of magic from Ruiz in the 67th minute.
The striker peeled off to the left as Dempsey drove at goal. The American laid the ball into the path of the former FC Twente man and with Howard marginally off his line, Ruiz lifted the ball over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
Fearing a fourth successive defeat, Moyes sent on reinforcements and it almost paid off. Saha came close to scoring as he pounced on a loose ball in the box and poked an effort at goal, which Schwarzer did well to save down low to his left.
With three minutes to play the hosts almost snatched all three points when Zamora picked out Ruiz lurking at the back post.
It should have been a formality, but the legs of Howard did enough to keep out the Costa Rican's acrobatic volley.
If Ruiz's miss was bad, Zamora's was catastrophic. The England striker raced through on goal, rounded Howard, and - as two Everton defenders desperately tried to form barricades - Zamora smashed his shot over the bar.
Zamora's rueful smile soon turned to a look of despair, as - with 90 minutes almost up - former Whites striker Saha shrugged off his marker and slid the ball past Schwarzer in front of the travelling faithful.
And, in injury time, a shell-shocked Fulham could only look on helplessly as Rodwell crashed a half volley from the edge of the box past an outstretched Schwarzer. Source http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/24102011/58/premier-league-everton-snatch-win-death.html
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