Preview: West Ham United vs Everton - prediction, team news, lineups

David Moyes will come up against his former club when he takes his European-chasing Everton side to the London Stadium to face survival hopefuls West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday.

Neither team could be separated in the reverse fixture at the Hill Dickinson Stadium seven months ago, with Jarrod Bowen cancelling out a Michael Keane opener in a 1-1 draw.

Match preview

Ten days after securing an emphatic 4-0 home win over Wolves, West Ham picked up what could prove to be a precious point in an uneventful goalless stalemate with Crystal Palace on Monday, keeping back-to-back clean sheets for the first time since February last year.

Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, who currently sees his team siting 17th in the table and two points above rivals Tottenham Hotspur with five matches remaining, believes that the relegation dogfight “will go all the way” to the final weekend of the season.

West Ham will be aiming for the traditional 40-point mark to avoid the drop, though they know better than anyone that even this may not be enough to survive. Indeed, the Hammers infamously went down with 42 points in the 2002-03 season – the highest total ever for a relegated side in a 38-game Premier League campaign.

Nuno and co will welcome Saturday’s return to the London Stadium where they are unbeaten in their last five Premier League home matches (W2 D3); they last enjoyed a longer undefeated home streak between November and February in 2023-24 under current Everton manager David Moyes.

Just three wins in 17 Premier League home encounters with the Toffees (D5 L9) leave a lot to be desired, but West Ham have celebrated two of those victories across their last four meetings with the Merseysiders at the London Stadium (D1 L1), including a 2-0 success - also under Moyes - in January 2023, courtesy of Jarrod Bowen brace.

Everton’s first Merseyside derby at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium ended in defeat, as they were beaten 2-1 by bitter rivals Liverpool last weekend, with Virgil van Dijk heading home a dramatic 100th-minute winner to secure bragging rights for the Reds and cruelly deflate the Toffees on Merseyside.

Moyes’s men have failed to win three of their last four Premier League games, and while Champions League qualification is slim, hopes of securing some form of European football for the first time since 2017-18 remain alive, as Everton sit 10th in the table and just three points behind Brighton in sixth spot.

While Everton sit down in 14th in the home form table so far this term, only Arsenal (32) and Man City (28) have accumulated more Premier League points on the road than the Toffees (25 - W7 D4 L5) – their best away points tally since the 2020-21 campaign (37).

Everton have enjoyed several of their Premier League battles with West Ham over the years, winning more overall matches (29) and away games (13) against the Hammers than any other opponent across 30 different seasons in the division. The Toffees have won only three of their last 15 matches in London, though (D5 L7).

As for Moyes, he has already masterminded an away win at former club Man United this season and is looking to join an elite group of PL managers to have secured away victories at two former clubs in a single campaign: Harry Redknapp (2009-10), Roy Hodgson (who achieved the feat twice) and Nuno Espirito Santo last season.

West Ham United Premier League form:

West Ham United form (all competitions):

Everton Premier League form:

Team News

West Ham boss Nuno has confirmed that he has a clean bill of health for Saturday’s game and he may be tempted to name an unchanged starting lineup.

However, a change at right-back could be on the cards, as Aaron Wan-Bissaka is pushing to start ahead of Kyle Walker-Peters in a four-man defence containing Konstantinos Mavropanos, Axel Disasi and El Hadji Malick Diouf.

Callum Wilson has scored eight goals in his last seven Premier League appearances against Everton, but January signings Valentin Castallenos and Pablo Felipe are both likely to retain their starting spots in attack, with captain Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville operating out wide.

As for Everton, Jarrad Branthwaite is set to miss the rest of the season after he was stretchered off with a hamstring injury against Liverpool. On-loan attacker Jack Grealish (foot) is also sidelined.

Meanwhile, Beto was taken off with a head injury against the Reds after scoring his fifth goal in six games, but the striker has not sustained a concussion and could therefore keep his spot up front ahead of Thierno Barry.

Fresh from signing a new one-year contract extension at Everton, Michael Keane is expected to partner James Tarkowski at centre-back in the absence of Branthwaite, while James Garner, Idrissa Gueye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall are all set to continue in midfield.

West Ham United possible starting lineup:

Hermansen; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Disasi, Diouf; Bowen, Soucek, Fernandes, Summerville; Pablo; Castellanos

Everton possible starting lineup:

Pickford; O'Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Garner, Gueye; McNeil, Dewsbury-Hall, Ndiaye; Beto

We say: West Ham United 1-1 Everton

Each of the last three Premier League meetings between West Ham and Everton have ended as a draw, and another closely-contested battle could in store in the capital.

The Hammers have made themselves difficult to beat on home soil in recent weeks and they may frustrate a Toffees outfit, boasting a strong away record, en route to claiming a valuable point in their bid to avoid the drop.

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