In what must be starting to feel like Groundhog Day for the Toffees faithful, Everton created a plethora of promising chances against West Ham but their inability to find the net came back to bite them once again as David Moyes’ side punished them with two late goals to leave Goodison Park with all three points.
The Blues peppered the Hammers goal with 22 shots over the ninety minutes, of which 11 were on target, but only managed to register one goal. Another soul-crushing finale to the game left Everton still searching for a victory as their winless run in the league stretched to ten games.
A missed penalty, a goal-line clearance and a string of saves from Areola in the West Ham goal all made for another frustrating afternoon for the Blues, but with their last league victory coming almost three months ago, you have to wonder when Everton will stop cursing their bad luck and start questioning if something drastic needs to change.
Here are our Everton player ratings for the 3-1 defeat to West Ham (2nd March):
Jordan Pickford - 6
Despite conceding three goals, it was a relatively quiet afternoon for the Everton goalkeeper. Pickford made a couple of decent saves when called upon and could do little about any of the West Ham goals.
Ben Godfrey - 6
Another decent performance overall from Godfrey at right-back, but his weakness in the air was once again exposed as Kurt Zouma beat him in the air to head in West Ham’s equaliser.
James Tarkowski - 6
A typically strong defensive display from Tarkowski, it would be harsh to criticise him for any of the goals we conceded but he could arguably have done better with some of his long-range passing.
Jarrad Branthwaite - 7
It was the sort of performance we have come to expect from Branthwaite this season, composed on the ball and hard to beat in his defensive duels. Like Tarkowski, it would he unfair to point the finger at him for any of the goals conceded.
Vitaliy Mykolenko - 6
Solid without doing anything particualrly noteworthy. Dealt well with the threat of Kudus, particularly in the first half.
Jack Harrison - 5
Ran around like a headless chicken, looked busy without actually contributing anything meaningful to the side, as has been typical of the on-loan Leeds man this season.
Amadou Onana - 6
Returned to the team in place of the injured Idrissa Gueye and added something to the side in terms of getting on the ball and progressing us up the field, but was fairly anonymous during the key moments of the game. Could, and perhaps should, have offered more.
James Garner - 6
A difficult performance to assess for James Garner. Battled well throughout and delivered a beautiful cross for Beto’s goal, but needed to do better defending the post for Zouma’s goal and cheaply gave the ball away for West Ham’s third, which put the result beyond doubt.
Dwight McNeil - 5
Another lacklustre display from McNeil who has looked in need of a rest from the side for the last few months. McNeil is still capable of delivering a decent cross or creating a half-chance, but he is still falling well short of the bar he set for himself in the latter half of last season.
Abdoulaye Doucoure - 5
Showed a couple of nice touches but struggled to get involved in the game and rarely offered any sort of threat on West Ham’s goal. Bizarrely found himself out on the left wing for the latter stages of the game.
Beto - 6
Squandered a decent chance in the first half before missing a penalty just before half-time, but made up for his miss by heading in Garner’s cross in the 56th minute. Beto caused problems for West Ham’s defence but his lack of composure in the final third stopped him from scoring as many as he should have.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (74’ sub) - 6
Got up to the pace of the game well after coming on and had a couple of decent efforts on goal that were saved by Areola, but his seemingly never-ending search for a goal goes on.
Andre Gomes (80’ sub) - 6
The Portuguese midfielder was tidy on the ball when he came on for the last ten minutes and was positive in his play. Gomes could have a big part to play in the final part of the season if he can put his injury issues behind him.
Youssef Chermiti (90+3’ sub) - N/A
Lewis Dobbin (90+3’ sub) - N/A