West Ham United vs Everton Preview
The Hammers task of staying up just got a whole lot harder following Nottingham Forests win against Sunderland last night. The 5-0 victory has put Forest 6 points ahead of Nuno’s boys and makes todays game a must win.
West Ham United host Everton at the London Stadium with the return of the Moyesiah aka David Moyes to East London, where he did a miraculous job. Moyesie steered the Irons through Covid brilliantly, brought us regular European football and of course won the Conference League.
That said, his biggest achievement may well have been working under the stewardship of David Sullivan and Karren Brady… no easy task.
So he returns to the London Stadium with his Everton side riding high and looking to secure European football for the Toffees. Facing him will be Nuno Espírito Santo who definitely needs a win following dropped points against Palace on Monday. Fail to win, and West Ham are likely to be overtaken by Tottenham, which tells you everything about where we are right now.
Speaking ahead of Moyes return, Nuno said: “It’s not just another game, because you have been in this club. The advantage is you know the players and you know the routines. David knows, so we have to try to make new things happen. It always a special due to the respect and love you have.”
Former West Ham boss David Moyes should get a good reception at The London Stadium
Moyes Brings Structure, West Ham Must Find Urgency
It’s been another solid campaign for Everton under Moyes. With five games remaining, they sit 10th and are still within touching distance of European places. No surprise really – his teams are always organised, disciplined and difficult to break down.
Everton’s defensive record says it all. Just 39 goals conceded, one of the best in the league. Compare that to West Ham, where we’re still on the road to recovery.
Last weekend summed up Everton’s bad luck. They were seconds away from a result in the Merseyside derby before Virgil van Dijk popped up deep into stoppage time.
Team News
Nuno was given his whole squad the all-clear ahead of the Toffee’s visit saying “All the squad is good and available.”
The Toffees’ are missing Jarrad Branthwaite who sustained a hamstring injury in the Blues’ Merseyside derby loss to Liverpool. Jack Grealish is also a long-term absentee and will miss the game.
Pressure Mounting On Nuno
This is where it gets serious for us. West Ham go into this one 17th with 33 points from 33 games. One win in five tells doesn’t really tell the full story, but the draw against Palace felt like two points dropped rather than one gained.
There’s no getting away from it now – this is survival football. Forget ownership upheaval, forget Moyes coming back, forget sentiment. We need points, and we need them quickly.
The big issue? The attack. Defensively, we’ve shown signs of improvement, but going forward we looked blunt against the Eagles. If that doesn’t change here, we’re in trouble.
Predicted West Ham XI
| Position | Player |
|---|---|
| GK | Hermansen |
| RB | Walker-Peters |
| CB | Mavropanos |
| CB | Disasi |
| LB | Diouf |
| CM | Souček |
| CM | Fernandes |
| LW | Summerville |
| RW | Bowen |
| CF | Castellanos |
| CF | Pablo |
It’s hard to see Nuno making changes, but let’s be honest – Diouf, Pablo and Bowen need to step it up. They were nowhere near it against Palace.
Match Officials
Stuart Attwell takes charge, his first time refereeing this fixture at the London Stadium since the goalless draw in November 2024.
Prediction: No More Excuses
I think we can win this… but more importantly, we have to.
Strip away the Moyes storyline and what you’re left with is a team fighting for its Premier League status. The defence has improved, there are signs of resilience, but the forwards simply have to deliver.
If they do, we win. If they don’t… it’s going to be a very uncomfortable weekend watching the rest of the results come in
Lose or draw and we are down, only a win will keep us alive.
depends what happens in spurs game, we need to mirror their results in rest of season to stay up..
I’ve always fancied this one more than Palace even though I did think we would beat them.
We look solid at the back (apart from Diouf) midfield was okay against Palace but I can’t see us having another day where our front 4s passing doesn’t come off and nothing gels. More importantly I think Everton are a good side but Moysie has a tendency to put the hand brake on towards the end of the season. I remember a few games where we had a chance of Europe or even champions league and we played dreadful tactics. My only worry is that if things are not going well is Nuno capable of changing it up in an attacking fashion.
A considered and realistically correct summation in your prediction, Gonzo.
I am persuaded. Well done – tidy reading. COYI
Cheers Taffy mate, always appreciate your comments. Have a good day mate
Our form matches Evertons going back twelve matches, there’s no reason we can’t win it as on recent form they’re not better than we are.
That we’re afraid of not winning it I blame on the board because they’re responsible for how abject we were at the start of the season.
Don’t forget that we conceded the most goals in a season in our history during Moyses last season – yes he bought us stability and success but also that last season was a total ’mare defensively – so let’s not over state the defensive solidity of Everton….
I teater between a draw or an away win for this game. Before the Palace game, I thought we’d get 3 from the next 4. I know think we need 9 from the last 5 games to stay up. I think Spurs will get 7 from the next 3.
Scarles, Adama and Kante in for Diouf, Pablo and Soucek for me.
I’m confident of a Hammers home win.
Didn’t our team score four goals the last time they played at LS?
Be proud, be loud.
Above all, be Positive!
COYI
If Forest get a result Friday night it’s looking more and more like us and Spurs. Exciting times. Yay ! (Oh God……)
For a change we will know where we are until next week by the end of match as spurs play the same time as us and Forest play on Friday.
We have a pretty decent record against Everton at our place in recent years and I’m hopeful. I thought the whole front 4 didn’t really gel against palace. I thought Bowen was really poor giving the ball away missed passes and being bullied by their defender so would like to see him replaced by Adama if the same happens again. I’m undecided about Pablo he is a poor quality player but what he does allows the other 3 to get more chances and I can’t see that happening starting with Wilson.
Bowen and Diouf can hopefully start playing better but Pablo should be nowhere near the team. Sure he runs around but he is nowhere near a premiership player
Hello Ted, I’d drop Diouf for this one and will explain more later
Gonzo sorry mate it’s a draw here for me and a win for Spurs putting them above us on goal difference.