Hammers win gives Everton another away day success – by Matt Townsend

Everton once again found a way to win away from home as they beat West Ham United 1-0 at the London Stadium yesterday to keep their slim hopes of qualifying for Europe alive.

This match was the latest in a string of so-called ‘must win’ games for Everton (most of which they haven’t won of course!) as they continue what has become an increasingly forlorn chase for Europe next season.

The latest setback had been last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at home to Aston Villa, which left the Blues farther off the pace and with matches fast running out.

After yet another hugely frustrating defeat at the Grand Old Lady, the Toffees were once again putting more pressure on their away form to get them back on track.

That away form has been excellent all season long and yesterday was another classic example of it as Everton scored relatively early on in the first half and then defended superbly to hold onto that lead and ultimately secure the three points.

Before the match the Blues had been given the good news that Abdoulaye Doucoure was back fit and training after his injury layoff. The athletic and energetic Frenchman has been sorely missed in the team’s engine room.

In the end though Doucoure didn’t make it into the team as he was judged not yet match fit and instead Tom Davies played alongside Allan.

On the debit side James Rodriguez was still not available and so the side’s creativity was largely dependent on Seamus Coleman and Lucas Digne on the flanks and Gylfi Sigurdsson in midfield.

Two players who did come back into Carlo Ancelotti’s team were centre-backs Yerry Mina and Michael Keane who started alongside Ben Godfrey. Not surprisingly after his awful game against Villa, Mason Holgate was dropped.

West Ham had been in good form recently and would have been confident of another win as David Moyes attempts to do with the Hammers what he managed at Everton in 2004-05 and secure an unlikely Champions League qualification.

As would have been expected then the home team had the majority of possession and were mainly on the front foot but in truth they didn’t create that much and in fact failed to get a single shot on target throughout the match.

And it was the Toffees first effort on target that brought the only goal of the game as Godfrey stepped up and found an excellent pass, splitting the West Ham defence to put Dominic Calvert-Lewin through and the England number nine finished confidently for his second goal in consecutive games.

Godfrey’s defensive qualities have been very apparent this season ever since the summer deadline day signing first came into the team when filling in for the injured Digne at left-back.

His electric pace, outstanding man-marking ability and forceful tackling make him a superb defender. He also has a fiery attitude and doesn’t back down in a confrontation, something I think Everton need more of.

But he’s also shown he is very comfortable bringing the ball out of defence, which is not that surprising given he’s played so much in central midfield and what we saw yesterday is that he is also a pretty good passer of the ball too.

In fact I think he can play as a sort of sweeper in a three-man defence using that pace to cover the other two centre-backs and stepping up into midfield to support his teammates and win the ball early. Everton need to be able to play in a more flexible way and become better at pressing higher up the pitch, especially then they are at home.

So after Calvert-Lewin’s strike the Toffees had their lead and while the Hammers huffed and puffed the visitors remained rock solid and repelled every attack with Godfrey, Mina and Keane all excellent.

In truth the Blues didn’t create much after the goal but they looked comfortable most of the time and always carried enough threat as well with the goal-scorer Calvert-Lewin in particular working hard to keep West Ham honest.

Both teams hit the post later in the second half but there were no more goals and so the Blues had grabbed their eleventh win on the road this season. That equals a record from the 1984-85 season, which as every Evertonian knows was the club’s most successful ever.

There’s no chance of a similarly trophy-laden end to this campaign but at least managing to get a European place would represent a decent conclusion. Next comes another away trip this time to the midlands as the Toffees play Villa for the second time in three weeks.