West Ham 0-1 Everton
West Ham’s lingering hopes of a Champions League place took a heavy blow on Sunday when they went down at home to Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton.
We expected Premier League West Ham vs Everton to be an entertaining clash and so it was as both sides hit the woodwork, but only the Toffees found the net. The Hammers returned to London on the back of a successful trip to Burnley where they picked up all three points thanks to a Michail Antonio double. They had to come from behind to win at Turf Moor and were faced with the same task again when Dominic Calvert-Lewin gave the Toffees a first half lead.
But this time David Moyes’ boys were left to ponder what might have been as they drift five points behind fourth placed Leicester City.
Highlights of the game
With skipper Declan Rice back in contention Hammers fans were hopeful he might play some part today, but David Moyes chose to give him another week to recuperate and he may have been regretting that decision when his side went into the break 1-0 down. Everton looked up for the game from the off, winning a succession of corners but when the goal came it was the result of a fast break and the best moment of quality in the first 45.
On 24 minutes Ben Godfrey slid a beautiful pass through to Calvert-Lewin and he got in behind Craig Dawson before sliding the ball into the bottom left corner for his 16th goal of the campaign.
Two minutes later the West Ham players were screaming for a penalty when Michael Keane clattered into Antonio but neither the referee nor VAR was impressed. And then Lukasz Fabianski was called on to make a brilliant save to deny Gylfi Sigurdsson and keep the deficit at 1-0. The hosts should have equalised, just before the break, when Pablo Fornals sent in a perfect cross for Said Benrahma, who was unmarked at the back post, but the Algerian striker directed his header back across the goal and wide.
The West Ham vs Everton betting odds had the Toffees at 2.97 to win and they just needed to draw in the second half to pull it off.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side were defending well, but the Hammers were inches away from levelling on the hour when Vladimir Coufal took a pass from Fornals and hit his shot across Jordan Pickford against the post, and when the rebound landed with Jarred Bowen, just three yards out, he couldn’t sort his feet out and the chance went begging.
Much as in the first 45 minutes, most of the play was in Everton’s half but the visitors were dangerous on the break and when Seamus Colman collected a ball on the overlap his goal-bound shot was blocked. Josh King came on for Richarlison and he almost scored with his first touch when Calvert-Lewin stood a cross up and he headed against the post.
Key statistics
The first half West Ham vs Everton news highlights told a story of the Hammers dominating possession with over 60 per cent of the ball but with no cutting edge as the Toffees registered three shots on target to nil. And that pattern continued in the second period, and while the Hammers won the shot count by 12 to nine they only managed one on target to Everton’s three.
The Toffees have had a great season on the road, winning 11 away from home and their fifth in London.
They have lost just once in 13 visits away to West Ham who stay fifth in the Premier League table while Everton are still in the hunt for Europa League football, in eighth position and three places back but with a game in hand.
What’s next?
Here at SBOTOP and throughout the football community, few fans and pundits expected Newcastle to derail Leicester City’s top four campaign, but a 4-2 victory for the Magpies dragged the Foxes back into the race. And Brendan Rodgers’ team have Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur to play, as well as the FA Cup final against Chelsea next week.
With matches against Brighton, West Brom and Southampton to come, David Moyes’ team can collect another nine points but this was a missed chance to make up ground.
Everton’s European push continues with a trip to Aston Villa on Thursday, before they return to Goodison Park where they host bottom club Sheffield United.
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