Everton Match Preview

After losing their latest UEFA Europa League match to Olympiacos in Piraeus on Thursday evening, West Ham United now play five consecutive games in London, starting with the visit of Everton this afternoon.

The Hammers have one last chance to record a league win in October and after last weekend’s results, the team have slipped to ninth in the Premier League table.

This is a reunion with their former club for Irons’ boss David Moyes, as well as first-team coach John Heitinga. With only four points picked up since the victory at newly-promoted Luton Town back on September 1, the duo will be desperate to clinch the three points.

The omens are with them too, as the hosts have won this fixture on the last two occasions and will be keen to get their season back up and running here but will be mindful of the fact that following a dreadful start to their campaign, the Toffees have won away at Brentford, as well as at home to AFC Bournemouth in recent weeks.

Sean Dyche’s men have had one extra day’s preparation ahead of this game but both sides want to return to winning ways after defeats last weekend. The Hammers suffered a 4-1 defeat at Villa Park, while the Toffees lost 2-0 in the Merseyside derby at Anfield.

Both teams have Carabao Cup ties to contend with in midweek so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top here.

Moyes has options to replace the suspended Emmerson Palmieri in defence, as Ben Johnson, Aaron Cresswell, Thilo Kehrer and Angelo Ogbonna are all available. Having said that, Konstantinos Mavropanos is yet to make his top-flight debut for the club so the Scotsman may decide to hand the Greek international that chance here.

Vladimír Coufal missed Thursday’s encounter in Greece and the Irons’ boss made no mention of his fitness during the pre-match news conference ahead of this game on Friday.

The match kicks off at the unfamiliar time of 1pm with live coverage being screened by Sky Sports from midday. The referee is Stuart Attwell.