After four consecutive defeats and with Everton sitting in the bottom three, Marco Silva made five changes from the defeat away at Burnley before the international break and those changes proved dividends as Everton beat West Ham 2-0, with goals coming from Bernard and Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Djibril Sidibe, Andre Gomes, Bernard, Theo Walcott, and Tom Davies all came into the starting eleven and Davies should have given Everton the lead in the opening 10 minutes.
Everton who won a total of 11 corners in the game should have taken the lead in the 7th minute. Bernard whose corner was not the best was inadvertently flicked on at the near post by Pablo Fornals and going over everybody, falling kindly to Tom Davies who was free at the back post, but from point-blank range he could only put the ball straight at Roberto in the West Ham goal.
Ten minutes later and Everton did take the lead through Bernard after some wonderful footwork inside the area. Theo Walcott raced in from the right wing, played in a reverse pass behind the West Ham defence to Bernard, who looked as if he would shoot first time across goal. However instead he stopped the ball dead, turned Declan Rice and dribbled past Arthur Masuaku and from the tightest of angles squeezed the ball under Roberto who should have done a lot better.
Everton now in the lead and in total control of the game took the game to West Ham in search of a second goal and Richarlison almost did that but his effort from wide right of the area smashed against the foot of the near post.
Everton maintained the pressure for the rest of the half, controlling the game, but despite all their possession they could not find another goal and went in at the break 1-0.
West Ham made one change at half time bringing on Andriy Yarmolenko for Felipe Anderson. Yarmolenko, who has three goals in his last two appearances against Everton, was hoping to be the difference for the Hammers and it was the Ukrainian that was involved in West Ham’s first chance of the second half.
He picked out an unmarked Fornals just inside the Everton area, and luckily for the Everton defence who had switched off, his shot went harmlessly wide of Jordan Pickford’s goal.
Everton believed they had made it 2-0 just before the hour when Theo Walcott who was impressive all game was brought down just outside the area. With the West Ham defence switched off, Iwobi quickly played Walcott in, he passed the ball across goal for Richarlison who flicked it in past Roberto, only for referee Paul Tierney to bring back play as he was not ready.
Frustrated at not being further ahead, Everton continued their forward momentum and Theo Walcott almost scored an absolute belter of a volley, but thankfully for Roberto, his 25-yard effort cannoned against the crossbar.
10 minutes later and yet another Everton chance was wasted, Djibril Sidibe dribbled infield and played a perfect ball straight to Alex Iwobi, he got the ball out of his feet and inside the area, all he had to was pick a corner but he shot straight at the keeper who pushed it wide for a corner.
From that resulting corner Everton once again had the ball in the back of the net. Bernard picked out Yerry Mina who escaped his man and headed into the bottom corner, however once again referee Paul Tierney blew his whistle for a foul, with replays showing it was wrongly disallowed, the question were again asked about why the referee needed to blow his whistle and not let VAR intervene if he believed a foul had taken place.
This refereeing decision enraged Everton manager Marco Silva who was not happy with the decisions going against his team and this did not help when moments later Paul Tierney awarded West Ham a corner when Sidibe was fouled.
From that resulting corner, Sebastian Haller rose highest, nodding down to Angelo Ogbonna, and from very close range his shot was expertly saved by Pickford.
Everton introduced Moise Kean and Gylfi Sigurdsson for Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi in the final five minutes to try and ease some pressure, and with West Ham now playing a 4-2-4 formation they left gaps at the back which Everton exposed.
With two minutes of stoppage time to play Richarlison showed more hunger in the tackle and won the ball ahead of Declan Rice. He played it to Gylfi Sigurdsson who shaped up to shoot left-footed, checked back onto his right and from 30 yards curled the ball into the top corner to give Everton a well deserved victory.
Everton will be hoping to take that performance into their next game away at Brighton next weekend and ease the pressure on Marco Silva, before a home tie in the quarter final of the Carabao Cup against Silva’s old team Watford.
