Toffees can hang tough

CARLO ANCELOTTI has given Everton some backbone but major surgery will have to wait.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s 11th goal of the season rescued a point after Issa Diop’s opener for West Ham.

And it was only the seventh time in 35 winless Premier League games they have managed to claw back a point after conceding first.

They achieved it this time without injured key man Richarlison, who has scored more league goals than anyone else at the club since his debut in August 2018.

And it is now 15 points from eight games since Everton sacked Marco Silva, who managed just 14 points from 15 games before the Merseysiders finally called time on his reign.

Ancelotti’s big task is to build the spine of a winning team but, after the club announced record losses of £111.8million, another big spend will have to wait until the summer.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford said: “Potentially, that was a game we would have lost in the past.We showed resilience and character and how we don’t want to get beat.

“When you’re not playing well, you take a point away from home.Transfers are not my call but we’ve got a good core squad with a lot of quality.

“You’re going to get that bit fatigued and flat with so many games at this time of year. You’ve got to play with niggles sometimes and you show your toughness when you do.”

While Everton have their problems, so do West Ham, with co-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold biting back at fans who protested against them before this game.

Both claim they have spent £210.4m net on players since moving to the London Stadium, and boss David Moyes said: “They’ve spent about £160m in the last two transfer windows. Maybe the fans want it to be more, but they have spent money.”

FIN POINTS terms all Premier League wins are equal, but some are more equal than others for Liverpool in their regal procession to the title.

Goals from Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah gave the champions-elect victory for the 21st time in 22 league games yesterday, but it will have given them particular pleasure to have put away Manchester United – the only team to have taken a point off them this season. Jurgen Klopp’s record against Liverpool’s arch-rivals is modest but victory number two in nine attempts was a sweet one.