Everton v West Ham - e-Everton Review

Article by e-Everton Correspondent Kenneth Jarvis

Follow e-Everton on Twitter here!

Next year the winners of the Europa League will be granted a Champions League place. This means that there will be something massive to play for the rest of the season, if people weren't massively bothered about getting into Europe's second tier before, they should be now. On Sunday, Manchester City ensured that 6th place at least is now secured for European qualification. Of course, Everton can control their own destiny in this respect away from the league by getting into the FA Cup final. But if Everton were to lose next Saturday, it would mean that Arsenal and Manchester City (if they were to beat Wigan) would then have to avoid each other and win their respective semi-finals in order for 7th place to become a European spot.

This makes next weekend more important than usual and also showed the importance of Lukaku's late strike. The same against West Ham was a frustrating one to watch as for a long time Everton couldn't find a way through the stubborn resistance. 69% possession and 22 shots tells it's own tale, Everton pretty much dominated from start to finish as Allardyce's 'try and hold on for a draw' tactics didn't quite work here. Before the match it was announced that Phil Jagielka was injured which meant a start in the first team for 19 year old John Stones. Starting a young centre back against wily players like Nolan and tall menaces like Andy Carroll on the face of it seemed like a daunting and nervous choice, but Stones once again showed the composure and defensive elegance that makes him one of the best young prospects in the country.

The base of Everton's possession, McCarthy and Barry, were as good as they have been. McCarthy in particular again seemed to cover every blade of grass. Whenever there is a pocket of space opened up, he covers it. Whenever a defender moves out of position, he covers it. He also does this whilst getting forward and being there to shift the play in the opposition 3rd. If there is an area of his game that is to be improved, it would be his contribution in the final third but with how young he is and the coaching set-up at Everton, you feel this will only improve.

After a reasonably dull first half, Everton looked a lot more purposeful in the second. This was especially after the introduction of Lukaku for Leon Osman. After a having a decent bit of form, Leon Osman was back to his average best, and with a few confident touches from Ross Barkley towards the end of the game, this might be his last start in a while. You get the feeling that Lukaku must have been fatigued before his injury as he was immensely good for the half hour he was on. Before the injury balls weren't sticking to his feel, his passes were going astray, he was struggling to hold up the ball and most importantly, he wasn't scoring. The injury seems to have given the rest of his body time to rest as his link up play was here as well as the goal which gives you great confidence for the rest of the season.

As I previously mentioned, Everton can only keep on winning then see where we are. This was the start of 4 very winnable premier league games in a row, and in that respect, it's one down and three to go. After the next three games we should have a better picture of exactly what can be achieved this season.

As for now, it's all about next Saturday. The game was a huge one but Arsenal's laughable ticket allocation will give the away fans a little more fire in the belly. Everton will go into the game with confidence and desire whereas Arsenal go into the match having been bullied by Stoke and have the away leg of their Champions League match a few days later. There may not be a better time to win at the Emirates, and I'm very confident that we can at least bring them back to Goodison. Bring it on.

© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football