Everton 2 West Ham United 3
Man of the Match Dimitri Payet (West Ham)
West Ham United's last taste of continental competition was an utterly ignominious Europa League run that featured defeats to Romanian and Maltese opposition. Their next may involve Uefa Champions League football. A season that started embarrassingly could finish gloriously.
This, beginning badly, coming to a wonderful conclusion and featuring a catalytic role from Dimitri Payet, may prove a microcosm of it.
“Unbelievable,” said Slaven Bilic. “A great comeback.” His team seemed to be missing an opportunity, trailing 2-0 to an Everton side reduced to 10 men for an hour. Instead they salvaged victory, spectacularly and impressively. “We showed our quality, we showed our stubbornness and we got a great win,” said Bilic. It elevates them to fifth, chasing a first top-four finish in three decades.
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His side struck three times in 12 minutes, through Michail Antonio, Diafra Sakho and Payet. West Ham have displayed a capacity to come from behind this season, Everton an ability to lose leads. Both were apparent. West Ham’s away record has been unexpectedly good, Everton’s home form a major disappointment. Both trends continued.
And yet, for much of the match, it was shaping up to be perhaps Everton’s best result and performance of the league season. “Infuriating,” said Roberto Martinez. His side are yet to beat top-six opponents but threatened to destroy West Ham, despite Kevin Mirallas’ deserved dismissal.
A Belgian, Romelu Lukaku, had put Everton a goal up. Another left them a man down. Cheating came at a cost to Mirallas. Booked for diving, he hacked Aaron Cresswell down, realising the consequences within an instant. Referee Anthony Taylor duly expelled the apologetic Belgian. Martinez duly blamed Taylor.
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“The second booking is a decision the referee has to make,” he admitted. “The first one is a ridiculous decision. I don’t feel he is a referee who understands the game in a way that we want it played.”
Lukaku had found the net before then, and should have done again afterwards. He has faced West Ham eight times as an Evertonian and scored on each occasion. His goal was a demonstration of pace, power and precision. He surged past Reece Oxford and drilled a shot in off the far post. “He causes mayhem,” Bilic admitted.
Lukaku garnished his contribution with an assist, Aaron Lennon exchanging passes with him before slotting in his fifth goal in seven games. Lukaku ought to have had a second, and perhaps a third. After Alex Song tripped Muhamed Besic, his stuttering spot kick was saved by Adrian. The outstanding West Ham goalkeeper, who had also saved superbly from James McCarthy and Ross Barkley, excelled again when denying Lukaku as he burst clear. “If they had scored that penalty they would have won the game maybe 3-0 or 4-0,” Bilic accepted. Martinez concurred. “The penalty was a big blow psychologically,” he said. “We were all a little bit shocked.”
It was the turning point. Rather than being routed, West Ham responded. Bilic had made attacking changes. They paid off after two of the starters reduced the deficit. Mark Noble crossed for Antonio to head home. Everton’s inability to defend the aerial ball was apparent again when the substitute Sakho converted Payet’s centre. Then came the coup de grace, courtesy of a Frenchman. Payet was on hand to stroke in the winner after Sakho, with a lovely flick, had diverted a header from his fellow replacement Andy Carroll into his path.
Cue a manic celebration from Bilic and mass disappointment at Goodison. Everton had announced on Friday that they have reduced season-ticket prices for next season. They are a welcome exception in a greedy game. A thriller showed they offer value for money. That proved little consolation to Evertonians, though.
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