Everton will look to get their second win of the season when they travel to West Ham United on Saturday, after achieving their first victory against Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea side last weekend.
West Ham will be looking for a good performance against Everton, as they have been less than satisfactory in that department so far this season. They defeated Cardiff 2-0 on the opening day, but have since only managed two shots on target in their matches .
Everton have had a different story however, and will consider themselves unfortunate that they only have six points instead of 12 at this stage. The confidence that will have been gained, with the win over the title favourites last weekend, will undoubtedly prove invaluable when they face the Hammers on Saturday.
Team News
West Ham are still without their big summer signing Andy Carroll, who discovered that he suffered yet another injury recently, further delaying his comeback. Sam Allardyce has confirmed that Joe Cole and Stewart Downing will also miss this game but should return next week.
Romelu Lukaku will be available to make his debut for Everton this weekend, after signing on loan from Chelsea. Gareth Barry will again have the chance to show his quality after making an impressive debut against Chelsea.
Interesting Statistics
Eurosport have some interesting statistics for this match:
- West Ham have had just six shots on target so far this season.
- They also have the worst shooting accuracy in the league at just 20%.
- Everton have defeated West Ham six times in their last 10 league meetings, losing none.
- At seven shots, Ross Barkley has had more shots blocked by the opposition than any other Premier League player.
- This fixture has produced three red cards on the last three occasions.
Key Players
West Ham United – Kevin Nolan
As usual, Nolan has been West Ham’s talisman so far this season. If he was not on the pitch, then West Ham would be undoubtedly in a worse position than they are now. While West Ham don’t play a passing game to the extent Everton do, Nolan has still completed 71 of his 87 passes, giving him an accuracy of 82%. He has attempted 50 of these passes in the attacking area of the pitch, and while this hasn’t led to many goals so far, you’d think he would come out of it looking better if Carroll was playing.
Everton – Ross Barkley
The youngster has been a revelation for Everton so far this season and a joy to watch for the neutrals among us. Barkley has played a big part in Everton’s possession game and it is no surprise looking at the stats. He has completed 146 of 165 attempted passes, giving him a passing accuracy of 88%. In attack, his passing has been vital with 66 finding a team mate in the final third. Defence’s have found it hard to deal with this so far and West Ham may be no exception.
Prediction
With West Ham looking so light up front, and Everton playing some great football recently, you can’t look any further than a win for the visitors. I think it will finish 2-0 to Everton.
