Everton Match Preview
Following successive home games West Ham United now face back-to-back road trips, starting with a fixture at The Hill Dickinson Stadium to face their former manager David Moyes and his Everton side tonight.
Graham Potter had never lost to Moyes in his managerial career and this continued when the two sides met as part of the Premier League Summer Series back on 30 July. However, despite having a full week at Rush Green and conducting the pre-match news conference ahead of this game on Friday, it was announced the following day that he will no longer be in charge of the team and was swiftly replaced by former Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest Head-Coach Nuno Espírito Santo, who has signed a three-year deal in Stratford.
It was exactly twenty days ago that Espírito Santo suffered a late 3-0 defeat to Potter’s Irons but it turned out to be a result that ultimately cost the Portuguese his job at the City Ground.
Up until last weekend when they inflicted a 2-1 defeat on the Hammers, Crystal Palace had only conceded one goal in their four top-flight games. Everton have a similar record and tonight, the East Londoners will be looking to repeat the outcome of their meeting in Chicago and in so doing, become the first away side to score at their new stadium just as they did to Tottenham Hotspur back in 2019.
Both teams lost their last Premier League match and will be looking to bounce back here but Espírito Santo’s new charges will be the fresher of the two teams, given that they have had a full week to prepare, whereas the hosts were only in action six days ago when they lost their Carabao Cup third-round tie to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.
Espírito Santo will start his reign with the Hammers currently occupying nineteenth place in the table but he will look to this match to hopefully be the start of a good run of form.
Despite stating that he will be back in contention for this game, Potter revealed on Friday that defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka will be out of at least one more game due to stomach issues.
The former Head-Coach changed formation last week, due to Tomáš Souček’s suspension, which saw Callum Wilson join captain Jarrod Bowen in attack. Wilson is hoping to start again here.
Youngsters George Earthy, Freddie Potts and Callum Marshall could be involved in the match day squad here, as the trio missed the Development Squad’s 3-3 home draw with Brighton and Hove Albion on Friday.
The new man at the helm will have to decide which goalkeeper will start the game with Alphonse Areola keen to keep his place.
The match is an 8pm kick-off and live coverage will be screened by Sky Sports from 6:30pm. The referee is Sam Barrott.
In other news, the club confirmed two new goalkeeping arrivals on Friday, as youngsters Thomas Wooster and Reece Byrne have joined the Development Squad.