Unbeaten run extended at the death by O'Brien

Everton 1 - 1 West Ham Utd

Everton take on David Moyes's old team for the first time since his return to Goodison Park, with Doucoure and Alcaraz starting this Saturday afternoon Premier League mid-table clash. 

Dwight McNeil has now been out for 3 months with a knee injury. Illiman Ndiaye was thought to be getting closer to a return; Moyes said: “Iliman is doing much better. He's not running yet, but he's certainly improving from his injury” — but he won't be playing again until next month.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Orel Mangala are both the victims of long-term injuries, while Armando Broja is fit enough to take his place on the bench.

Moyes has at least turned a corner with this tsunami of injuries: there are no young players just making up the number on the subs bench.  Doucoure and Alcaraz start, with the largely ineffective Lindstrom finally dropped to the bench.

The Blues kicked off, long punt from Pickford, and Beto was caught slightly, not enough to warrant a penalty as our shirts are Blue, not Red. Beto kept up the challenge but it was a pretty scrappy start. A great forward pass from Branthwaite to Mykolenko was rewarded with a dreadful cross behind by the Ukrainian.

Gueye and Alcarez dispossessed Kudus but a foul was called. Doucoure was next to press high and force the Hammers back. A nice move through Alcarez saw some neat ball-juggling by Harrison but his shot was blocked by Soucek. Even with an unjustified free-kick called against O'Brien, The Hammers were still forced back. 

It was 12 minutes before the visitors got forward and forced a corner. Ward-Prowse put in a superb delivery and Pickford had to pull off an excellent reaction save to paw away Branthwaite's inadvertent goalbound header. 

Beto drew a foul off Mavropanos, setting up an attacking free kick for Harrison to deliver — straight to Areola. From a Doucoure foul, the free-kick led to nothing; however, The Hammers looked to press themselves but Mykolenko stopped that with a fine tackle. 

Some pretty decent football down the right from Harrison saw O'Brien cross too deep and Alcaraz could not get enough on the header at the far post to trouble Areola. Harrison got a better cross in but Doucoure could only head it into the ground and away.

From a throw-in, O'Brien put in another nice cross that Beto headed over. An even better cross from Mykolenko was headed over again by Beto but the intent was excellent.

A lovely take by Alcarez was fed quickly to Beto who somehow tripped. A low cross this time found Doucoure and Beto getting in each other's way. Harrison gave the ball away and the Hammers were immediately down the other end, Bowen lashing a shot goalward that Pickford had to push over. First defender Mykolenko powered away the Ward-Prowse corner. 

The Hammers tried to come again but Alcaraz cleverly stole the ball off Kudus before Paqueta committed a foul. Some great work in midfield with Garner and Alacarz saw O'Briem really connect with a bullet that unfortunately was straight at Areola. More good work won an Everton corner, Garner playing it short, then overhit to the far post and behind as Branthwaite drove around the back.

Everton were starting to play the ball around quite nicely, always looking to get forward, and pressing hard if they lost it.  Paqueta stayed down after Gueye stole the ball off him but neither the referee nor his teammates showed any sympathy. 

The Hammers had a better spell, Kudus winning a corner off Harrison that Ward-Prowse put it on the roof of the net. Branthwaite was on the end of a disappointing move, pushing the ball forward into a space that was devoid of blue shirts. 

Half the crowd wanted a handball call when Harrison's cross was illegally blocked. Some fine work by Harrison and Gueye gitr the bakk in to Beto who pirouettes, then kicks the ground and goes down in a heap. Penalty called... but the inevitable on-field review suggested by the VAR showed there was no foul on him. 

So ended an interesting half with The Blues looking confident and determined to push forward, but nothing to show for their efforts. 

Hostilities resumed with West Ham now having most of the ball and Everton making poor passes at key moments and not pressing as effectively. Bowen was fouled poorly by Tarkowski, setting up a delivery for Ward-Prowse that was cleared. But the more fluid play had deserted the Blues and Branthwaite had to be strong to deny Wan-Bissaka a good run in on goal.

The initiative, though, was clearly with The Hammers and it had Moyes scratching his grey head. Would he plumb for some early subs that it clearly looked like his side needed?  What looked like a great ball through to Beto from Tarkowski was immediately flagged offside.

That allowed West Ham to get in behind, Paqueta crossing for Bowen to try a bicycle kick, with the Everton defense in panic mode, the goal-bound shot hitting his hand! Kudus was next to test the Everton defence, Garner doing enough to stop him. 

But the Hammers kept regrouping and pushing forward before Everton finally had a brief better epell on the hour... until they went all the way back to Pickford! The Blues crosses were a lot rarer and, when they did come, poorer than in the first half. 

Beto appeared to have half a chance to work the ball in but he lost out and the Hammers went forward, Bowen lashing a shot at Pickford from a narrow angle. The pace increased and it became end-to-end without much really transpiring. A high looping ball into the Hammers area saw Beto launching arms and legs at it without connecting.  

Moyes decided it was time for a change... but was Lindstrom really the best option in place of Doucoure?  Graham looked set to double down with two changes of his own, but not before another West Ham attack came very close to breaking through…

And there it was, Bowen setting up Soucek to drive a clever shot, passed wide of Pickford and just inside the post. What an absolute disaster for Everton as it looked highly unlikely they could score against this lot.

Bowen drove forward again, firing at Pickford, who spilled it, Ward-Prowse forcing a corner that he took twice. Everton had 20 minutes to do something, O'Brien winning a rare corner for Harrison to deliver, but it didn't get past the first defender. But Harrison kept it allve and he then had a sot that screwed behind off a defender.

Another corner and more Everton pressure but West Ham held out. Everton at least kept the ball high but they were just not getting close enough to goal, despite good work by O'Brien until he was called for a soft foul.

Ward-Prowse was shown a yellow card for holding Alcaraz but Areola cleared Garner's free-kick. Everton finally upped their game, Alcaraz getting more involved, but the defensive block was very hard to break. 

An Everton corner caused havoc in the crowded area but shots were blocked. Chermiti was a bit too energetic, earning himself a quick yellow card.  Everton kept working it around but the West Ham defence was resolute and The Blues seemingly had no answer. 

But some tremendous pressure saw Chermiti smash a shot at Areola, then a wide cross to Gueye was returned first time right onto the immense nogin of Jake O'Brien, who could make no mistake from short range in added time.

And it wasn't over yet, Tarkowski heading the ball forward and a clever ball finding Alcaraz who looked for all the world like he would score a dramatic late winner... but no! He scuffed the shot agonisingly wide of the far post!  

And so David Moyes magically survives the Manager of the Month curse that seemed certain to end the remarkable unbeaten run that has now extended to 9 games since his second game back in charge.

Everton: Pickford, Mykolenko, Branthwaite, Tarkowski, O'Brien, Harrison (79' Chermiti [Y:85]), Garner (79' Iroegbunam), Gueye, Doucoure (69' Lindstrom), Alcaraz, Beto (80' Broja).

Subs not Used: Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Young, Coleman.

West Ham Utd: Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Todibo (90+2' Rodríguez), Emerson, Souček, Ward-Prowse [Y:78'], Paqueta [Y:81'] (83' Soler), Bowen, Kudus (92' Ferguson).

Subs not Used: Fabiański, Scarles, Cresswell, Álvarez, Luis Guilherme Ings.

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