West Ham United clashed heads with Everton earlier today hoping to win their first points of this new campaign. Manuel Pellegrini opted for a 4-1-4-1 formation with the intention to hurt the Toffees on the counter. His tactics worked wonders as the East Londoners managed to get a two-goal lead courtesy of a brace from Andriy Yarmolenko. However, the home team hit back just before half-time through Glyfi Sigurrdson’s powerful header.
The Hammers grew on confidence in the second half and managed to reclaim their two-goal lead when Marko Arnautovic scored from close range. Pellegrini’s men defended valiantly and earned an impressive 3-1 victory at Goodison Park.
Let’s shed some light on how each West Ham player performed during the match against the Toffees.
GK: Lukasz Fabianski – 7/10
The former Arsenal goalie made a few excellent saves to deny Everton. However, the Polish keeper was powerless to stop Sigurdsson’s header as he was completely beaten by the power and placement.
RB: Pablo Zabaleta – 7/10
The Argentine managed to neutralise the threat of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and had a good match while defending his own goal.
CB: Fabián Balbuena – 7/10
He was beaten by Sigurdsson for the Everton goal. Other than that, he was solid defensively and put on a valiant display at the heart of the Hammers defence.
CB: Issa Diop – 8/10
He started the game off slow but put on a commanding performance in the second half to help his side earn three crucial points from this encounter.
LB: Arthur Masuaku – 7/10
Although he was not as effective as he can be going forward, yet he managed to defend valiantly and had a good afternoon while operating as the left-back.
CDM: Declan Rice – 8.5/10
He was outstanding sitting just ahead of the West Ham backline and managed to break down a lot of Everton attacks. The youngster was also good with his distribution of the ball and had a productive day in midfield.
RM: Andriy Yarmolenko – 9/10
The Ukranian opened the goal-scoring with an easy finish. However, his second goal was a thing of beauty which would live long in the memories of the travelling West Ham supporters. He was fantastic on the day and deserved to be the man of the match.
CM: Mark Noble – 7.5/10
He put on a tireless shift at the centre of the pitch and made some solid challenges to break down some of the Everton attacks.
CM: Pedro Obiang – 8/10
He got a handy assist when he set up Arnautovic for the third goal which made the points secure for the Hammers.
LM: Felipe Anderson – 7/10
He failed to show enough creativity in the first half but came back into the game with a telling display in the second half to help his team earn a victory.
ST: Marko Arnautovic – 8/10
Another excellent display from the Austrian forward. He set up the first goal quite unselfishly and was rewarded in the second half when he scored with a smart finish which gave the away side enough breathing room to bag the three points.
Substitutes:
ST: Michael Antonio – 5/10
He was not effective after coming off the bench despite playing in a free role up top.
CM: Carlos Sanchez – 6/10
He provided some fresh legs in the Hammers midfield.
RM: Robert Snodgrass – N/A
He hardly had any time to make an impact.
