Spoils shared in a drab encounter in the capital
WEST HAM held Europa League-chasing Everton to a dull goalless draw at the London Stadium.
In a game full of halfchances, Manuel Lanzini’s goalbound second-half effort was the closest any of the two sides came to finding a goal.
With the share of the spoils, the point takes Everton above Arsenal into sixth-place, but the Gunners have three games in-hand over the Merseysiders. Meanwhile, West Ham edged closer to safety as they remain in 13th place, seven points above the drop zone.
West Ham made four changes to the side who drew at Sunderland with Adrian, Winston Reid, Havard Nordtveit and Jonathan Calleri – who made his first Premier League start for the club, coming in for Darren Randolph, suspended Sam Byram, injured Andy Carroll and Robert Snodgrass. Meanwhile, Everton’s Maarten Stekelenburg replaced Jose Robles in goal
A miskick from Adrian, making his first Premier League start since November, almost gifted Everton the lead after failing to clear the ball under the challenge of Kevin Mirallas. The Spaniard managed to recover to retrieve the ball.
In a scrappy opening, the first shot on target came after 28 minutes as Havard Nordveit’s long-range effort was comfortably gathered by Stekelenburg.
Cheikhou Kouyate was the next West Ham player to try his luck from distance, but his strike sailed wide of the
post. With Slaven Bilic’s side set up in a 5-3-2 formation, Everton struggled to find their attacking rhythm as the home side’s defence paid close attention to leading Premier League marksman Romelu Lukaku, who went into the game with an impressive record of scoring in nine consecutive games against the Hammers.
Having been run ragged by Manuel Lanzini for much of the first-half, Tom Davies and Idrissa Gueye were replaced by Ademola Lookman and Gareth Barry after half-time.
West Ham continued their momentum from the closing stages of the first-half and Lanzini was in the thick of play again. Andre Ayew found Edimilson Fernandes in acres of space on the right flank before the Swiss midfielder scuffed his shot.
The ball then fell to Lanzini but defender Phil Jagielka came to the rescue to throw himself at the shot and block with his head.
Lukaku first real sight at West Ham’s defence summed up his performance at the London Stadium. The Belgian beat Collins to cut in on his left-foot but dwindled on the ball too long as Jose Fonte arrived to dispossess the forward.
Lookman, who had been bright since coming off the bench, produced Everton’s first real chance of the game after 71 minutes. The 19-yearold had two bites at the cherry as his shot from dragged wide of Adrian’s post. Moments later, the former Charlton academy graduate created an opening on the left before his effort sailed just over the bar.
Another half-chance went begging for Ronald Koeman’s side late on as substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin also produced a cross for Lukaku, but it sailed over the head of the Belgian.
A last throw of the dice from West Ham in the saw a corner find Fonte at the back post but his header was saved by Stekelenburg as the sides ended with a point apiece.