Next up: Everton vs West Ham Utd | OneFootball

Everton against West Ham Utd on Monday night at the Hill Dickinson Stadium as the focus returns to the Premier League campaign.

This was expected to be a celebration for David Moyes of the great start he has given Everton in this season's Premier League after masterfully steering them away from the relegation zone since he replaced Sean Deyche in Janaury.

But things have turned a little sour after it fell apart in what some thought should be a straight-forward game against Wolves in the Carabao Cup. The consensus view seems to be that he got it seriously wrong in making so many changes, that he should have played his strong side from the start, and then rotated in his fringe players after securing a victory — or at least making a decent fist of it.

But it's gone now. A long, long wait for success in the League Cup in all its weird guises continues for at least another season, leaving the FA Cup in the New Year the only possibility for winning a trophy this season.

And so the focus returns to the Premier League, where a couple of good results on the back of inspiring performances from Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were thought to have set the tone for dramatic improvement in Everton's prospects this season as they finally had players who could be seen to bring both skill and attacking flair to Moyes's workmanlike crew.

But the range of tricks and taunts that comprise the playbook Jack Grealish has at his disposal seems both limited and vulnerable to him being crowded out. Combine this with his reluctance to go for goal himself instead of trying to set up the perfect feed for someone else to score, and you have the root of Everton's problem as those strikers are sadly nowhere to be seen.

Neither Beto nor Barry have produced anything like what is required up front so far this season, but it would be too radical surely to anticipate that David Moyes would adopt a different approach and possibly pair Iliman Ndaye with Grealish playing further forward so that he might feed the critical final ball to the Senegalese striker  in advanced positions that should increase his chances of scoring,

Perhaps the test will come against his former charges at West Ham, who have won 1 and lost 4 of their 5 Premier League games so far his season and they now languish in the relegation zone, one place above Wolves.

Reader Comments (10)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()

Jim Bennings 2 Posted 26/09/2025 at 13:47:17

Röhl and Branthwaite already ruled out by the look of it.

Didn't take Röhl long to catch on with the Everton injury curse and as for Branthwaite, no doubt be going into early November before he's even near full speed, something needs sorting out with him, for these kinds of injuries to be dragging on as much as they are.

In other news, the Scottish media have labelled Youseff Chermiti as "anonymous" last night playing for Rangers.

Another gem from the amazing world of Everton scouting.

John Williams 4 Posted 26/09/2025 at 14:12:34

I think you are singing from the RS hymn book, ie, football is more than life and death.

I have news for you: it is not. Far more to worry about than winning or losing a football match.

Tom Bowers 5 Posted 26/09/2025 at 14:15:01

We all feel the same way after that Wolves game and only a decent winning performance against the Hammers will help erase the bad taste Moyes created.

We really have an inconsistent offense, if any offense at all, and that won't go away soon until January maybe.

With no goals in the last three games, one wonders if anything we have will end that.

Barry and Beto struggle and these guys were kept because Calvert-Lewin was no longer deemed good enough.

Moyes takes some blame because of his team selections and the man is so stubborn that it's unlikely to change.

The big bosses have a big problem if the results don't change.

Pretty sure we scored in the derby, Tom.I reckon Moyes took off the gloves in training this week, so we’ll see the effect of rockets in arses to start the game, but we need an early-ish goal to settle us. I’m going for a win a clean sheet and a solid performance. Would like to see Grealish and Ndiaye swapping wings throughout like they did against Wolves in the league game.

Tony Heron 7 Posted 26/09/2025 at 14:42:42

Much has been written about Moyes' selection for Monday. I found his defence lamentable and it illustrated his muddled logic. Yes they may all be regarded (by him) as first team players but they haven't featured much because of the way the team has been playing. But instead of building on the confidence within the team and the momentum it was generating he throws that away. Now we're back to square one, confidence dented and questions being asked. The team now goes into the next game under pressure and desperate to win, and win well. Well done the master tactician!

Paul Hewitt 8 Posted 26/09/2025 at 14:47:07

The thing I like about Moyes since his return is he's been very positive in his pre match interviews. Today he was very stand offish. I hope he doesn't return back to his negative self

Kevin Molloy 9 Posted 26/09/2025 at 15:11:05

the Female reporters aren't being intimidated or picking up on his prickliness, and so are asking. him some quite awkward questions. the blokes are all giving him underarm balls.

Michael Bennet 10 Posted 26/09/2025 at 15:14:58

That's defo what I got from him paul, and tony is spot on about the momentum its been flushed down the drain, I don't care what he said, sometimes I think these managers want the fucking sack, stubborn fucker