Everton vs West Ham United: Review

West Ham United made the 228th trip north to Goodison Park to face European opposition, however it didn’t come in the form of Real Madrid or Bayern Munich but more close to home in Everton, themselves performing very well indeed on the continent. The Hammers came into the game in fourth place and off the back of five games unbeaten – an impressive scalp over reigning champions Manchester City being one of those. The battle on Merseyside would be a real test for West Ham though, with arguably five of their best players out through injury: Downing, Valencia, Kouyaté and Song with knee injuries which isn’t encouraging at all and front man Diafra Sakho out with a back injury that he picked up whilst on international duty with Senegal. The Toffees had injury concerns of their own, free kick specialist Leighton Baines out with a hamstring injury he picked up again on international duty, along with Darron Gibson injured because of… yep, you guessed it. International duty. Cases for both fans to be aggrieved over.

With both sides fielding somewhat weakened squads the game kicked off. In the opening exchanges Everton had the lion’s share of the possession, a massive 79% in fact in the first 10 minutes. West Ham, to put it nicely, were really struggling to get a hold of the contest. It is clear to see why Everton are competing in Europe, slick passing and intelligent runs were often putting the Hammers on the back foot. All their good work would have to result in a goal and it did! 26 minutes gone and Lukaku found the back of the net, in somewhat lucky circumstances. Barkley hit towards goal and a deflection finds Romelu Lukaku who tucks the ball away. Should’ve been flagged for offside but fair play to Lukaku; he didn’t get distracted and he put the ball home. That’s what £28 million buys you. Everton lead. Lukaku’s strike looked to be the catalyst for West Ham to venture forward more and to their credit they searched for an equaliser. 37 minutes gone and Everton thought they’d bagged a second and it was that man Lukaku again. Thankfully for the Hammers this time it was ruled offside and to tell the truth there was probably less in it than the goal that counted. Life, eh? After a few more runs forward, namely from Carl Jenkinson the half time whilst blew. Everton 1-0 West Ham United.

Six minutes into the restart and a double substitution was being made for Allardyce’s men. The absent Carlton Cole replaced by Mauro Zarate and Mark Noble, who looked in some discomfort, left the field for Matt Jarvis. And the substitution looked to be an intelligent one as just five minutes later that man Zarate scored, albeit rather fortunately. After running at Everton’s defence he shot, hitting Jagielka in the process and the deflection looped over Tim Howard. 1-1. The game was firmly back in the balance. Moments later Kevin Mirallas went in very hard on Morgan Amalfitano before raising a hand to James Tomkins’ face. A yellow card was given to both Tomkins and Mirallas, however the 2,500 travelling fans felt Mirallas deserved a red. The Greek international soon made way for Samuel Eto’o, perhaps to give the Toffees a more attacking threat or maybe to protect him from picking up a second booking. End to end stuff ensued as both teams looked for their second of the match and the home side found it. The substitute Eto’o running at West Ham’s defence, finding Osman who was there to put the ball into Adrian’s net. 2-1 Everton. And that’s the way it finished, with West Ham failing to find enough inspiration to net an equaliser. Their first loss in six against a team who they haven’t beaten in seven long years.

Newcastle next up for the East Londoners and they’ll desperately be hoping that they’ve got a few back from injury. They need it in all honestly. Jenkinson would undoubtedly be West Ham’s man of the match, running the flanks terrifically and proving a thorn in Everton’s side.