David Moyes declared himself pleased with the win after West Ham overcame ten man Everton to return to the Premier League's top six.
Goals from Aaron Cresswell and Jarrod Bowen moved the Hammers above WOlves and Manchester United (and temporarily Tottenham too) as they saw off the challenge of Frank Lampard's Everton at the LOS.And even though he felt the victory could've been even more decisive, Moyes was happy enough to condemn his former club to back-to-back defeats against West Ham this season.
"It's never easy when you come back [after an international break]", he said during his post-match press conference. "You're not sure if going to have players fit and available.
"Everton had problems but we had our as well with Ben Johnson and Manuel Lanzini, so it was a good three points. We could've been cleaner at times with what we did, but at this time of the season I'm happy to take the points and move on."
And the boss admitted that had Manuel Lanzini - who was injured in a car accident on the way to training on Friday - been fully fit, matchwinner Jarrod Bowen would probably had started the game on the bench - at best.
"I only decided he's start yesterday when I knew Lanzini wasn't going to make it," he revealed.
"Lanzini's played really well for us so then it was about if we start Jarrod for 50 or 60 minutes, or bring him on for 30 minutes as he's not quite all there yet. It's not his fitness, but we were a bit worried.
"We chose to start him and it worked out well enough. He said he didn't know if he was sharp enough, but he has such high standards. He might have been called up for England in the last break but he was unfortunate to get injured.
"If he finishes the season well, he'll be back in contention for those [international friendly] games in June."
Although he felt the performance could've perhaps been more accomplished at times, Moyes recognised the importance of taking all three points given West Ham's Europa League commitments.
"There was pressure on today's game," he claimed. "But it was a big game for Everton too.
"We'd got a huge game today but a huge game in midweek as well with Premier League matches after that are really important to us. We weren't as slick or as good [as we can be], but it was a good performance to win the game."
And one player who produced on the day was full back Aaron Cresswell, who scored his first goal since the opening day of the season to set West Ham on their way to victory.
"He played much better before his back injury," argued the boss. "He was in top form up until mid-November when that happened and there are signs he is getting a little back to it, but it's taken a little while.
"We were trying to work out how many free kicks he has taken before he scored one. I guessed 625 (!), but we don't know exactly.
"He's provided great assists from corners and wide free kicks but I don't remember him scoring many from a direct free kick. Everton have a top goalkeeper too, so to get it over the wall and in was really good.
"People ask if we practice a lot of set pieces. It's become so relevant in the game, we're not daft.
"We look to see what the opposition do, we look at what we do. You need people who are technically gifted to get it up and down over the wall. We've not had many in my time here, I can't think of any in my time here that we've scored.
"Two and a half years? Cressy has an ability with it, but we'll never hear the end of it now! The boys will give him a lot of stick. He's very popular."
And even though today's defeat leaves his former club staring relegation squarely in the face, Moyes repeated his rhetoric from last week by insisting they had enough about them to remain in the top flight.
"You have the quality of their forward players, Brazil and England centre forwards, players in wide areas who can score goals," he began. "They have good things going on and they should feel positive about it.
"I've been there a couple of times, at Sunderland and with West Ham. It's not a good place to be. You never know what way it will go. Everton have the quality though. They have injuries, Van de Beek not making it in the last minutewhile small things can happen to affect your team. But I think they'll be ok."
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