Premier LeagueEverton 1-3 West Ham United
Saturday, 2nd March 2024
by Chris WIlkerson
West Ham continued their improvement and dragged themselves to victory from a goal down as they beat Everton 3-1 at Goodison Park this Saturday afternoon.
In a tough game that took a long time to open up, two stoppage-time goals from the excellent midfield pair of Soucek and Alvarez earned The Hammers three points on a day where Areola's acrobatics kept the hosts at bay time and time again.It could have been very different if not for the Frenchman's heroics, but the performance will have given the manager huge encouragement as the business end of the season really kicks off.
He was a resilient team battle for their points, fighting through periods of Everton pressure as they looked to recover the form that had deserted them so badly until last week's first win of 2024. Every player contributed, even as some took longer to find their rhythm and influence play. Assists for Ward-Prowse, Kudus and Bowen were finished by others finding their way back into form, with Zouma joining the two midfield maestros on the scoresheet.
There were problems breaking Everton down, but a mixture of improvement in defence and Areola covering for the side when the consistency faltered gave West Ham a far better platform to attack their hosts. Whilst it was by no means perfect, it was a vast improvement on the weak 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at the London Stadium earlier in the season.
The Hammers were unchanged from their victory against Brentford last weekend, with Mavropanos retaining his place. Kalvin Phillips returned from suspension to take his place on the bench, leaving only Maxwel Cornet missing from the squad.
That win last week had been West Ham's first of 2024, leaving only Burnley and today's hosts Everton without a win in the year so far. But Dyche's side had suffocated Moyes's men earlier in the season, with most fans recognising that defensive teams who play deep often frustrate this side.
Everton started with very direct play, the ball fired forward from Pickford and Tarkowski as they seeked to test the steel of their visitor's back line. The 6'4" frame of Beto launching himself at the high balls and giving the centre backs a relatively unique challenge, Calvert-Lewin waiting on the bench.
Whether or not it unsettled the defence and the West Ham team, it's hard to tell, but it did take them time to find much to threaten Everton, their first shot coming just inside the first 10 minutes as Alvarez struck well from range, although it was easily saved.
It wasn't a flowing first half, with both teams looking better when trying to pressure their opponents on the ball, rather than showing much guile or control of their own. That's not to say there weren't chances. The football wasn't beautiful, but gradually they found ways to make chances.
In a half that ended with more drama than it warranted throughout, both Mavropanos and Beto missed massive chances for their sides that should have seen the deadlock broken.
The first was for Mavropanos, the centre back forward for a corner and meeting the ball as it meets him on the line of the six-yard box. But a poor connection saw the defender's header drift harmlessly wide when he should have scored.
Six minutes later, with 25 minutes gone, Beto was presented with an equally strong opportunity. This time, West Ham had let McNeil drift in off the wing into a central area under no pressure. He took the pass from Tarkowski and turned to run at the area.
Beto made his move across the box and was slipped in as he moved down the right hand side, running off Zouma and free of him. Close to goal, and at an angle, the striker should still have scored, but could only hit Areola as he threw himself forward.
There was good defending to keep the forwards at bay, and Kudus slowly got into the game as he tried to carry the ball forward with pace from deep, but the half was drifting to a 0-0 finish before Craig Pawson was sent to his screen.
It came about after the ball was kicked at Zouma from a metre away, just inside his area. The referee waved it away on first sight, but was sent to his screen with the ball still in play, a sure sign the penalty was going to be given.
A few views were enough for Pawson to signal a square and point to the spot, giving Beto a chance to put his side ahead on the stroke of half time.
He looked confident as he stepped up, but his penalty was poor, not hard enough to beat the goalkeeper, not far enough in the corner, entirely reliant on Areola diving the wrong way. But the Frenchman didn't, flying down to his left and getting low enough to save the penalty. VAR halted play to check his footwork on the line, but they couldn't hand Everton another chance at it, and West Ham kept their clean sheet alive going into half-time.
Given the reprieve West Ham had been given by their goalkeeper, and the anguish the Everton players must have felt with such an opportunity wasted, you might expect West Ham to have come out from the break with the momentum.
But it was the home side firing as the referee restarted the game. Much like the first half, The Toffees pushed forward early in the hopes of punishing a West Ham side that seems to always come out of the blocks slowly.
They made it through 10 minutes unscathed, but barely lasted a minute longer before Everton took the lead. It came as the game began to open up. Space was suddenly allowed to players who can be dangerous with it, and James Garner is an exceptional crosser of the ball given time.
It's what he got as he strode down the right flank and was not closed down. Taking it from halfway, he pushed down the line and looked up into the box. Beto peeled from his man, but the quality of the ball from the wing was so good that it's hard to blame the centre backs for being beaten by it.
The ball whipped and curled perfectly for Beto, eight yards out, and the striker rose well to put the finishing touches on a delicious cross, heading down and into the bottom corner. The finish was good, although he was a tad lucky to see it go in considering the combination of head and shoulder it hit.
And they nearly doubled their lead instantly as McNeil was given a huge chance. The Hammers were cut open again, this time with Harrison down the right, inside the box, and delaying in possession to check his options.
He chipped a ball to the middle where McNeil was running through, right into his path, with the goal gaping. The winger looked to cushion his volley into the goal, but he was thwarted by a flying goalkeeper, Areola rushing back across goal and making the save when it was surely about to be 2-0.
Moyes made changes on the pitch, shuffling his deck as Paqueta went up front, through the middle, with Bowen right and Kudus left. They struggled to find much flow, but a quick passing exchange on the edge gave Kudus the space to unleash a deflected effort.
Ward-Prowse curled another corner beautifully to the six-yard line again, but this time the centre back rising to meet it managed to meet the ball perfectly. Rising up, stepping backwards to meet it, he flicked the cross on and into the top corner across goal, hitting the underside of the bar and bouncing in to return West Ham to parity with just under 30 minutes to play.
Moyes made his first substitution soon after, a surprise move to replace Ward-Prowse with Phillips, moving Soucek forward. It was a risk, Soucek had played excellently until this point to help Alvarez screen the defence and battle in midfield, but the manager looked to his workrate and ability to steal the odd goal as a way to stay solid and maybe take all three points.
It took another 20 minutes to pay off, but it was good to see him not welded to Ward-Prowse whilst giving Phillips more minutes in the team. But the side failed to get ahold of the game, with Everton rising to prominence after the drama of West Ham equalising subsided. It is where Areola really earned his man of the match title.
Beto tested him first, making space on the edge of the box and hitting an effort that deflected off a defender and looped up. Areola had to backpedal as it appeared to be flying over him, only for the goalkeeper to make a great save as he dived backwards and clawed the ball away.
He was then lucky on the corner as a crowded box left him no space to move. Up went a flailing arm, but to no avail, and Doucoure managed to control the ball on the far side of the six-yard box and poke at goal.
He had surely scored, if not for Soucek on the goal line, scrambling the ball away from goal and keeping his side on level terms.
West Ham reacted, Alvarez floating a ball over the Everton defence for Kudus to run through onto. Taking the dropping ball on the chest, with two defenders on his tail, the Ghanaian got into the box and shrugged off both, but couldn't round Pickford before his shot was blocked wide.
The frantic pace continued as two resolute sides chased a win. Doucoure fired in a low cross between defence and goalkeeper, and substitute Calvert-Lewin was primed to tap in, only for Areola to dive out and palm the ball away from him. The striker has scored more goals against West Ham than any other Premier League club, so he was bound to score.
Whilst West Ham looked to work out how they could find an effective attack once more, Everton were piling on the pressure. Calvert-Lewin was thwarted once more by Areola as a good shot from the edge of the box was saved low to his left.
Moyes moved once more, replacing his talisman Paqueta with Antonio's presence up front. He nearly had an instant impact, sliding Bowen through, but the forward was stopped by an inch perfect Branthwaite sliding tackle as England manager Gareth Southgate watched on.
We headed into injury time level, the game looking like it would be a draw, a reasonably fair reflection of it all. But with a minute of the seven gone, Tomas Soucek scored the best goal of his career.
Phillips played it wide to the left for Kudus, and he threw in a cross that went to the far side of the box. Soucek would have been looking for something to attack, but instead took the ball down on his chest. It bounced ahead of him, and then Soucek reacted.
You'll need to see it to believe it, but for a man whose technique can be questionable at times, this was majestic, this was maybe the best argument for just how important playing on instinct is.
As it bounced again, Soucek met it with a half-volley and the outside of his boot. It flew across goal, curling and bending as it did, staying out of Pickford's reach but coming back in towards goal before nestling into the far corner and delighting any Hammer watching. It's just a goal to watch over and over again, an absolute beauty of a hit that you'll find yourself purring over.
They still had five minutes to defend their goal, but Everton were shellshocked. Still, a late corner with 30 seconds left on the clock can cause panic and turmoil. But as Coufal headed away at the near post, West Ham broke forward. Bowen carried, Alvarez flew up in support.
Bowen took it on, waiting until the perfect moment to slip it to his left for the Mexican, who had been brilliant in midfield all game.
Out came Pickford, sliding down to block, but Alvarez just dinked it over him, popping the ball up and into the back of the net for his first Premier League goal. The man who has admitted to finding the pace of the league draining sprinted 90 yards to pop in a third goal in the last minute of stoppage-time.
Ogbonna and Johnson came on to see out the remaining moments, but with no wins in 2024 two weeks ago, two wins on the spin to put West Ham 7th in the table, two points behind Manchester United above them, and back in the hunt for more European football.
It could have been different, but you rely on your goalkeeper to make saves and give their side a chance. It worked today.
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Substitutes
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Match Facts
West Ham United: , , , , , , , , , , .Goals: None.
Booked: None.
Sent off: None.
Everton: .
Subs not used: .
Goals: .
Booked: .
Sent off: None.
Referee: .
Attendance: 0.
Man of the Match: .