West Ham United welcome Everton to London Stadium on Sunday for our penultimate home game of the 2020/21 Premier League season.
The Hammers host the Blues in a 4.30pm kick-off in their 35th of 38 Premier League matches, seeking to boost our challenge for European qualification.
West Ham start the weekend in fifth, with 58 points from 34 games, three points behind Chelsea in the fourth UEFA Champions League qualifying place. Everton start the weekend in eighth, six points behind their hosts, but with a game in-hand away to Aston Villa next Thursday evening.
David Moyes' side are seeking to complete the Club's first-ever Premier League double over Everton at the 25th attempt, having scored a 1-0 win at Goodison Park on New Year's Day.
With the country under COVID-19 restrictions, Sunday's game will be played without supporters present. However, the game will be screened live in the UK by Sky Sports and across the world by the Premier League's international broadcast partners. Click here to see where the game is being screened in your territory.
Official Programme
West Ham United's 116-page Official Programme for Sunday's Premier League fixture with Everton is on sale now!
In Sunday's issue, cover star Tomáš Souček reflects on an unforgettable first year in Claret and Blue and discusses the close relationship that his arrival has sparked between Hammers fans, his former club Slavia Prague and his home country, the Czech Republic.
The Official Programme, which is available to order here for just £3.50, plus £1.49 postage and packaging*.
Copies will be sent via first-class post. Full-season subscriptions are also available, including all Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup home issues, from just £108, from the Club's online West Ham Programmes shop.
Team news
West Ham United have been without Declan Rice, who suffered a lateral knee ligament injury while on international duty with England in March, and Arthur Masuaku, who underwent knee surgery before Christmas and has been managing the issue in recent weeks.
The Hammers were also without Angelo Ogbonna (thigh) and Mark Noble (calf) for Monday's 2-1 win at Burnley.
However, David Moyes said in his pre-match press conference that Rice is closing in on a return as he steps up his work on the training pitches, but remained tight-lipped over whether he might return in time for Sunday's game.
For Everton, midfielder Abdoulaye Doucouré is fit and available after overcoming the foot injury which has kept him out since March, but forward James Rodriguez will miss the trip to London Stadium after suffering a calf problem.
Aside from Rodriguez, Jean-Philippe Gbamin is Everton's other only absentee for the West Ham game. The Ivorian will miss the remainder of the campaign with a knee injury.
The opposition – Everton
Anyone looking for a decent football documentary to watch during lockdown would have discovered Howard’s Way.
Directed and produced by lifelong Evertonian Rob Sloman, the 105-minute film charts the Blues’ rise to become the best team in England in the mid-1980s under manager Howard Kendall.
Kendall, who became the youngest player to feature in an FA Cup final when he lined up for Preston North End against West Ham United in 1964, had enjoyed seven years as an Everton player between 1967-74, winning the First Division title in 1970 and later being appointed captain.
The period between that title success and Kendall’s return eleven years later was barren, with just one League Cup final appearance, in 1977, to get excited about.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Stanley Park, Liverpool were dominating the game, not just in England, but Europe too, winning five First Division titles and three European Cups between 1973-81.
The Reds’ success would not end with Kendall’s appointment, but under their diminutive new manager, Everton grew into a team that could compete with their local rivals, and a club that their fans could be proud of.
An FA Cup was won in 1984, followed by a European Cup Winners’ Cup a year later.
But, even better, in 1985 and again in 1987, the Blues edged the Reds into second place to be crowned Champions of England.
Thirty-five years on, Everton once again find themselves in a similar position, trying to step out of Liverpool’s shadows.
Can they find a way?
Previous meetings
West Ham United welcome Everton to east London for the 50th Premier League meeting between the two clubs on Sunday evening.
The Blues hold the all-time edge, winning 26 of the previous 49 meetings, with 13 draws and just ten victories for the Hammers.
West Ham’s biggest Premier League victories over Everton were the 3-1 wins achieved at London Stadium on the final day of the 2017/18 season, when Manuel Lanzini scored two goals, and at Goodison Park in September of the same year, when Andriy Yarmolenko was among the scorers.
Everton’s most emphatic Premier League win over West Ham was their 6-0 success at Goodison Park in May 1999.
David Moyes, of course, managed Everton successfully for just over eleven years between March 2002 and May 2013, taking charge of 516 matches, winning 217 of them and guiding the Blues to a top-four finish in 2004/05 and the 2009 FA Cup final.
Moyes is now in his second spell as West Ham manager and takes charge of the Hammers for the 93rd time on Sunday afternoon.
Of the previous 92, five have come against Everton, with two Premier League wins in May 2018 and January this year, a draw here in January 2020, a Premier League defeat at Goodison Park in November 2017, and an EFL Cup fourth round defeat at Goodison Park in September 2020.
Player-wise, Jarrod Bowen could make his 50th West Ham appearance on Sunday.
By the numbers
50 Sunday’s game marks the 50th Premier League meeting between the two clubs. West Ham United have won just ten of the previous 49, Everton have won 26 and 13 have ended in draws. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given those numbers, the Blues have scored almost twice as many goals too, outscoring the Hammers 86-46. Both teams have won three penalties, but scored just one each, while the Irons have had six players sent-off to the Toffees’ two.
8 West Ham United’s all-time leading scorer Vic Watson has netted more goals against Everton than any other Hammer, with eight. Watson’s goals were spread over an eight-year period between April 1925 and March 1933, with the last coming in an FA Cup semi-final defeat by the Blues at Molineux.
4-0 West Ham United’s biggest home and away wins over Everton were both by 4-0 scorelines and both were in the old First Division. The away victory came first, with Vivian Gibbins’ hat-trick helping the Hammers to beat the Blues at Goodison Park in April 1929. The home win occurred in February 1961, when Harry Obeney (two), Johnny Dick and Malcolm Musgrove got the goals at the Boleyn Ground.
0-7 Everton’s all-time most emphatic win over West Ham United took place at Goodison Park in October 1927, when Thomas White (two), Edward Critchley, Dick Forshaw, John O'Donnel, Anthony Weldon and an own-goal did the damage.
11 Despite the fact the two clubs have met so regularly down the years, just eleven players have made their West Ham United debuts in competitive fixtures against Everton: John Campbell (March 1924), George Eastman (April 1925), Jimmy Andrews (November 1951), Mick Beesley (September 1960), Ron Tindall (November 1961), David Unsworth (August 1997), Trevor Sinclair (January 1998), Sasa Ilic (February 2000), Hayden Foxe (March 2001), James Tomkins (March 2008) and Mladen Petric (September 2013).
2 Two men have managed both clubs – Sam Allardyce and current West Ham United boss David Moyes. After guiding the Hammers to promotion back to the Premier League in 2012, Big Sam departed in 2015 and, after spells in charge of Sunderland, England and Crystal Palace, was appointed Everton manager in November 2017. The Blues won ten of his 26 matches in charge before his departure in May 2018. Moyes fared rather better at Goodison Park, winning 217 matches between March 2002 and May 2013, guiding Everton to an FA Cup final and five top-six finishes in the Premier League. He is now in his second spell at London Stadium, having previously managed West Ham between November 2017 and May 2018 before returning in December 2019.
99 West Ham United great Tony Cottee, who scored 146 goals in 346 appearances for the Hammers, also netted exactly 99 times for Everton. The striker became the most expensive player ever signed by a British club when the Blues paid the Irons £2.2m for his services in summer 1988. Cottee scored a hat-trick on his Everton debut and reached the FA Cup and Full Members Cup finals in his first season. He later scored Everton’s first two Premier League hat-tricks against Sheffield United and Swindon Town in 1992/93. His final game for the Blues was their dramatic come-from-behind win over Wimbledon in May 1994. Cottee returned to West Ham in September 1994 after six seasons on Merseyside.
4 The fourth player depicted in the famous The Champions statue on the corner of the Barking Road and Green Street in Upton Park, alongside West Ham United’s 1966 FIFA World Cup-winning trio Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, is Everton and England full-back Ray Wilson (pictured, above). The defender, who is holding Moore aloft by his left leg, spent five seasons with the Blues between 1964-69 and earned 63 England caps between 1960-68. He passed away in May 2018, aged 83.
25 The following 25 players are among those who have been on the books of both West Ham United and Everton: Niclas Alexandersson, Ray Atteveld, Slaven Bilić, Ian Bishop, Joe Blythe, David Burrows, Tony Cottee, Charlie Crossley, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Don Hutchison, Lars Jacobsen, Nikica Jelavić, William Kelly, Lucas Neill, Mike Newell, John Russell, David Unsworth, Enner Valencia, Mark Ward, Anthony Weldon, William Wildman, Danny Williamson, Arthur Winterhalder, Richard Wright and Robert Young.
Match officials
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistant Referees: Dan Cook and Simon Long
Fourth Official: Craig Pawson
VAR: Darren England
Assistant VAR: Peter Kirkup
Stuart Attwell began refereeing seriously following his graduation from Stafford University and worked his way up through the West Midlands League and National League before joining the Football League list of referees in 2007.
Attwell was fast-tracked, becoming the youngest-ever referee to control a Premier League fixture when he officiated Blackburn Rovers’ 1-1 draw with Hull City on 23 August 2008, and being added to the FIFA List later the same year at the age of just 26.
In 2010, Attwell officiated in the Japanese J. League as part of a referee exchange programme.
The 38-year-old has refereed West Ham United 13 times in total since March 2009.
Attwell will today referee the Hammers for the third time in the Premier League this season, having taken charge of the 2-0 home defeat by Newcastle United on the opening weekend back in September 2020, and the 3-2 victory at Crystal Palace in late January.
