A goalless first half came and went without much in the way of quality or chances being produced by either side, with Crysencio Summerville’s last-ditch block denying the visitors an opener early on.
The second period continued in much the same fashion, with the passive Hammers having arguably the best chances of the half, Summerville hitting the post and Danny Ings forcing Jordan Pickford into two brilliant saves.
West Ham Zone rated each player out of 10.
Lukasz Fabianski – 5
Tested early on by Iliman Ndiaye, whose shot through a crowd of claret and blue was well held by the Irons goalkeeper. Fabianski then put himself under pressure with a heavy touch from Kilman’s back-pass, skewing the ball out of play with Calvert-Lewin closing in, and another loose pass almost left Kilman exposed again just moments later. Belied his years to stretch and tip a Lindstrom header over the top in Everton’s best chance, and was otherwise solid in commanding his box.
Given space in the box after Summerville’s attempted cross deflected his way, returning midfielder Soucek chose the worst possible option with Wan-Bissaka to his right and the chance broke down immediately. Involved heavily in a seemingly endless midfield battle, Soucek later got back to slide in and block Mykolenko’s close-range shot behind for a corner.
Lucas Paqueta – 4
Expected to be the creative link between attack and defence, Paqueta couldn’t create much in the final third but did see a late first-half header from a corner saved by Pickford. Given a golden opportunity to shoot after great work from Summerville to keep the ball, but instead tried a chip in behind which came to nothing. Paqueta did soon repay the favour to play Summerville in behind before he struck the post.
Jarrod Bowen – 6
Popped up in the right area to have the Irons’ first effort on target a minute before half-time, seeing his right-footed strike parried wide by Pickford at his near post. After the break, Bowen burst in behind Branthwaite to lash a shot goalwards from 20 yards, only for James Tarkowski’s block to send it wide, and he later met Paqueta’s cross-field pass on the volley, skewing it straight into Pickford’s gloves.
Raced back at speed to prevent a near-certain Everton opener on the break, sliding in to block Doucoure’s shot after he was played clean through on goal in the most dangerous opening of the first half. In the second, Summerville then couldn’t capitalise on a loose ball from Everton but did meet a pass in behind by Paqueta to beat Pickford, only for his shot to bounce back into play off the far post. Pulled up with cramp late on, and was replaced by Luis Guilherme.
Michail Antonio (off for Danny Ings, 67′) – 4
Shrugged off an early injury after landing awkwardly in the opening stages, but was the root cause of the Irons’ best early opening breaking down as he mis-controlled a pass into feet by Bowen. Recovered with a bullocking forward run on the break to play in Bowen, and then connected with his captain again to force Pickford into a save on the byline, but couldn’t produce much else after the break and was hooked midway through the second half.
Substitutes:
Vladimir Coufal (on for Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 67′) – 4 – Tried a long throw to release Bowen in behind but could only pick out Pickford, but continued to get forward whenever the chance allowed akin to Wan-Bissaka, picking up a late yellow card for a pull on Ndiaye.
Danny Ings (on for Michail Antonio, 67‘) – 7 – Did little better than Antonio in build-up play but could have twice won it late on for the Irons, with Pickford saving from two late efforts, the second a spectacular spot after a deflection off Tarkowski skewed the ball goalwards.
Carlos Soler (on for Guido Rodriguez, 67′) – 5 – Charged forward on the counterattack to start Ings’ first chance late on after his own shot was blocked, but couldn’t provide much else in the final third.
Luis Guilherme (on for Crysencio Summerville, 83′) – 5 – Did his best to burst away from Young on the break but was fouled, resulting in a yellow card for the Everton man
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