Everton vs West Ham review: Average game overshadowed by confrontations

 

Everton vs West Ham review: Average game overshadowed by confrontations

 

 

Everton and West Ham faced off at Goodison Park on Saturday evening and the game was expected to be full of attacking football. This expectation was not helped before the game when Baines, Sahko and Valencia were ruled out. Neither side was at full strength and this was shown by the lack of chances created for both sides. The flow of the game never really got going, as 23 fouls were committed altogether. Anyway, Romelu Lukaku scored a much-debated goal on 26 minutes, taking his tally to five goals this season. Everton didn't help themselves after taking the lead as their defence and midfield kept losing possession from unnecessary long passes. West Ham could and should have been level at half-time, but Everton did enough to protect their lead.

 

West Ham introduced Marco Zarate for Carlton Cole on 51 minutes and the substitution added a slight change to the mentality of both teams. Everton became more defensive of their lead and West Ham charged forward through Zarate's quick dribbling and step-overs. He was rewarded for his hard work by putting his team level through a hugely deflected goal, that came off Everton captain Phil Jagielka. Mirallas then made a decent attempt to get the ball from Amalfitano but resulted in West Ham players pushing Mirallas for trying to injure the ex-West Brom winger. Mirallas and Tomkins exchanged pushes and Tomkins went down holding his face like a three-year old. There is no place for this intentional unsporting behaviour in any sport and Tomkins should really think about what he's doing. Everton then had a second breath as Eto'o started to fix the empty threat on West Ham's goal that had been present for much of the game. A counter-attack was launched on 74 minutes as Lukaku drove into the centre of the pitch and was taken down by James Collins. Advantage was played and Eto'o slid the ball across to Leon Osman to score his 55th goal for Everton, on his 400th appearance for the club. West Ham never recovered and lost for the first time in six league games.

 

Expect the goals and the introduction of Zarate and Eto'o, this game didn't have many fantastic footballing moments to remember and the aftermath of the game was spent talking about both sets of players trying to fight. I suppose not every game can be brilliant.

 

 

 

 

Romelu Lukaku celebrates putting Everton 1-0 up on 26 minutes, taking him to five league goals this season.