Everton v West Ham - as it happened

Andy Hunter's match preview: Another brutal match report from David Sullivan might be preferable to a visit to Goodison Park for Gianfranco Zola, given that West Ham have won only once in their last 13 visits and face an Everton side that has triumphed on its last seven home league games – a club record in the Premier League. Injury to Mikel Arteta at least deprives Everton of their most creative outlet but with the pressure firmly on the Italian, and his side winning only once on their league travels this season, it will take more than spirit from the struggling Hammers to ease the sense of crisis this weekend. Match pointers • If West Ham lose, they will become the 22nd team in Premier League history to lose seven or more consecutive games. • Everton have lost one of their last 15 home league matches while West Ham have failed to win in 15 away. • Louis Saha has scored five goals in his last three appearances against West Ham. • If the season had begun on 1 January, Everton would be in second place behind Manchester United. • West Ham have conceded 799 Premier League goals in their history. Everton: Howard, Neville, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Pienaar, Osman, Heitinga, Cahill, Bilyaletdinov, Saha. Subs: Turner, Hibbert, Yakubu, Senderos, Rodwell, Duffy, Wallace. West Ham: Green, Faubert, Da Costa, Upson, Spector, Noble, Parker, Kovac, Behrami, Mido, Cole. Subs: Kurucz, Gabbidon, Ilan, McCarthy, Daprela, Spence, Stanislas. Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire) If Gianfranco Zola Had Ducks They'd Drown Dept: Valon Behrami, who had to pass a fitness test this morning, appears to have pulled up with some sort of tweak or strain during the warm-up. Pre-match niceties: Everton are on a five-match unbeaten run, while West Ham are on a seven-match beaten one. They'll have to make do without the box-to-box industriousness of Behrami this afternoon as he's been ruled out of the starting line-up after injuring himself in the warm-up. Junior Stanislas comes into the side in his stead. Not long now: It may be Easter but there isn't a giant bunny or chocolate egg in sight as referee Howard Webb leads both teams out of the Goodison Park tunnel with both sets of players wearing the colours with which they're most readily associated. An email from Steve Peake: "Regarding that picture of David Sullivan," he writes. "Is he a very small man or is that a very big car? Or is he standing in one of New Labour's new potholes?" 1 min: Louis Saha and Tim Cahill get proccedings under way on a sunny afternoon on Merseyside. Can West Ham end their worst losing run for 40 years? We'll soon find out. 2 min: Somewhat unexpectedly for West Ham, Mark Noble has started on the left hand side of midfield, with Junior Stanislas on the right. The latter chases a long ball up the right flank but there's too much welly on it and Tim Howard beats him to it. 3 min: Everton win a free-kick wide on the ride, about halfway inside the West Ham half. The ball's floated in to the edge of the six-yard box, where Matthew Upson clears. 4 min: From the kick-out, Stanislas wins the ball in midfield and tries to send Carlton Cole on his way with a defence-splitting through-ball. Offside. 5 min: Nails hard Dutchman Johnny Heitinga sends a speculative punt up the right channel for Louis Saha to chase, but the ball bounces out over the endline. Meanwhile at St Andrews, Steven Gerrard has put Liverpool a goal up against Birmingham City. At Craven Cottage, Fulham are a goal down against Wigan Athletic. 7 min: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov gets a spray from the magic can on his calf after a challenge from Jonathan Spector. He'll live. 8 min: It's very scrappy so far. No chances on goal created by either side in the length of time it takes Manchester City to score three against Burnley. 9 min: Good defending by Phil Jagielka, who concedes a corner by intercepting a cross from the right wing by Junior Stanislas. 10 min: Another corner for West Ham, which is only cleared as far as Scott Parker, a few yards outisde the Everton penalty area. He swivels and hits a left-footed volley high and wide, but not too high and wide, of the right post. 11 min: "Fulham have equalised against Hull City," says Sky commentator Martin Ty ... actually it's Alan Parry. Even by Fulham's lofty standards, that's impressive, considering they're playing against Wigan. 12 min: Carlton Cole is hobbling gingerly after a meaty clash with Johnny Heitinga. He looks like he took a knock on his knee. 13 min: Rather than head it back towards the halfway line, Manuel Da Costa chests down a dropping ball and tries to play it out of defence. Tim Cahill gets in amongst him and the West Ham centre-half is forced to concede a free-kick. Luckily for him, Leighton Baines slams the ball into the wall. 15 min: "I cannot believe the football club I have supported for decades is now owned by a dwarf with the dress sense of a partially-sighted cinema usher," writes Neil Macknish. "He's not even big enough to see over his steering wheel. Lord have mercy because at Goodison we usually get a thorough tonking." 16 min: Howard Webb shows Scott Parker his 10th yellow card of the season for a foul on Tim Cahill, which means West Ham will be without their best player for their forthcoming matches against Sunderland and Liverpool. 18 min: Everton free-kick about 25 yards from goal. After a seemingly interminable bout of silly buggers, the West Ham wall gets a ticking off from referee Howard Webb for inching forward as Louis Saha stood over the ball. Eventually, Saha tries his luck. Well wide. 19 min: West Ham attack but can find no way through the Everton defence. Carlton Cole tees up Mido from the edge of the box, but his powerful drive is blocked. 20 min: Birmingham have equalised against Liverpool, while Fulham have gone 2-1 up against Wigan. It's all happening ... somewhere else. 21 min: "It was good to see Gianfranco Zola asserting his authority and using a break in play to get some advice to Mido earlier," writes Gary Naylor. "Although how much good 'Lose some weight, fatty' can do at this stage isn't clear." That's harsh, Naylor. Harsh but fair. 22 min: "There seems to be a biblical message from Job in the reflection on Sullivan's car door," writes eagle-eyed Ian Copstake. "No doubt the big man upstairs is suggesting that with Zola, patience is the key." GOAL! Everton 1-0 West Ham (Bilyaletdinov 24) That's woeful defending from Jonathan Spector, who heads a weighty Leighton Baines cross from the left straight up in the air over the edge of his six yard box instead of away to safety. Tim Cahill gets a free header to flick it towards Bilyaletdinov, who slots a free header home from five yards. 26 min: The camera pans to West Ham co-owner David Gold sitting in the stand. He does not look best pleased. 28 min: Matthew Upson tries to pick out Carlton Cole with a long pass, but misses him by about 20 yards. Cole is looking very isolated up front. He's getting no service. 29 min: "My good friend Jez Wyke would like to enquire why such an esteemed chap as yourself should draw the short straw and have to work on Easter Sunday?" writes Jonathan Gard. The short straw? This? 31 min: "Is it just me or is Martin Tyler repeatedly referring to someone called Phil Yagyelka?" asks Sally Ledger. "Has he been to the John Motson school of overly pretentious pronunciation?" 33 min: Mido tries to charge up the left touchline, but Phil Neville puts a stop to his gallop with a fine challenge. In his efforts to win the ball back from the Everton right-back, Mido concedes a free-kick. 34 min: In mmidfield, Steven Pienaar plays the ball out wide to Leighton Baines on the over-lap. He pings the ball back inside to Tim Cahill, who scurries across the face of goal before unleashing a diagonal daisy-cutter that fizzes a couple of feet wide of Rob Green's right post. 36 min: That has to be a penalty ... 36 min: ... and it is. Sylvain Distin brings down Carlton Cole in the box as they contest a marvellous through-ball from Scott Parker. Looking at it again it seems it was more of a collision between the two than a foul by Distin and Howard Webb took a long time to point to the spot. 37 min: Mido misses, sending a lethargic effort low and to his left. Howard guessed the right way and saved fairly easily. 39 min: I don't think I've been as confident that somebody would miss a penalty since seeing the terror in Michael Gray's eyes as he stepped up to take that fateful pspot-kick in in the Championship play-off shoot-out between Charlton and Sunderland on May 25 1998. 39 min: On Sky, co-commentator Andy Gray is wondering why Howard Webb only booked Sylvain Distin for preventing a clear goalscoring opportunity. Well he might wonder. If he blew for the foul, he should have sent the player off off. As it happens it was a harsh penalty, but Webb obviously thought Distin had deliberately brought down Cole. 44 min: My tools start playing up and I lose a large chunk of text criticising Mido's penalty on the strength of a replay I've just seen. In short: it was terrible and he clearly signposted which side he was going to put it. 45 min: "Re: Ms Ledger's question," writes Naylor. "I think Mr Tyler is otherwise engaged and that we're treated to Alan Parry today. But in response to her question, jes." Half-time: West Ham go in a goal down, with Mido having thrown away a great chance to put them level. I'll be surprised if he comes out for the second half as his only other contribution of note was picking up a yellow card while he was still fuming after his miss from the spot. Niall Harden writes: "Remember Republic of Ireland v Spain in 2002?" he asks. "Those were some nailed-on missed penalties right there!" "There's more chance of that Jesus bloke making a come back than west ham coming back in this one," writes Anthony O'Connell, for the day that's in it. "Over here at Craven Cottage we're witnessing Fulham's worst home performance of the season by far," writes Jared Barnes. "Shocking how bad any team near the drop zone must be if Wigan aren't beating this Fulham performance! Every year it seems like the relegation candidates are even worse." "You'd think Howard Webb and the rest of the refs would want to help West Ham not get relegated," writes Aidan Gibson. "It's increasingly looking like we get Millwall v West Ham next year in the Championship, and I pity the poor sod who refs that one." Jonathan Gard writes, again: "Who do you think would win between a tiger and a shark?" he asks. "This is given the lion/tiger debate was clearly in the tigers favour." That's a tough question. I suppose the outcome would depend largely on whether the bout was staged in the sea or on dry land. West Ham get the second half started. Before Howard Webb blew his whistle, Mido was having a great laugh with Carlton Cole. I'm not sure what's more surprising: that he hasn't been substituted or that he's brave enough to crack wise after that penalty miss. 46 min: Play is halted after Leighton Baines goes down injured after miniimal contact with Junior Stanislas. It looks like his studs got caught in the turf and he gave his left knee a wrench. 47 min: Baines is passed fit to continue, but is immediately called upon to shank a left-footed clearance down the field. His subsequent wince suggests that really, really hurt. 48 min: Instead of holding up the ball and waiting for some of his team-mates to get into the Everton penalty area, Mido whips a cross into an area he must have known wasn't going to be occupied by anyone in a West Ham shirt. If it sounds like I'm being harsh on him, it's only because he's been more of a hindrance than a help to the West Ham cause today. 50 min: That's better. With his back to goal about 40 yards from the Everton goal, Mido knocks the ball down to Carlton Cole, in a deeper position. Cole bisects the Everton centre-halves with a marvellous throuhgh-ball, which Mido runs on to. He shoots, but Jagielka recovers well to block. Even if Mido had scored it wouldn't have counted as the linesman had flagged him for offside. I don't think he was. 53 min: "I'm unsure as to the venue for the bout, but I believe the tiger would fare far better in water than the shark would on land," writes Jonathan Gard, before adding the important caveat that the water would have to be "relatively shallow". 54 min: West Ham are pressing Everton fairly hard at the moment, but without creating anything in the way of goalscoring chances. Tim Cahill's name goes into the referee's notebook for a late challenge which resulted in him scissoring Scott Parker. Free-kick for West Ham wide on the right, not within shooting range. 57 min: Gah, rubbish! Mark Noble swings the free-kick high across the penalty area and out over the endline. Goal-kick for Everton. 58 min: West Ham attack down the right, the ball is pinged into Mido in the Everton penalty area, where his touch lets him down. He manages to win a corner but should have created a scoring chance. GOAL! Everton 1-1 West Ham (Da Costa 58) From a corner, the ball drops bewtween Tim Cahill and Mark Da Costa on the edge of the Everton six-yard box. Cahill doesn't react quickly enough, allowing the West Ham defender to gouge the ball out of the turf and over Tim Howard from three or four yards. It wasn't pretty, but they all count. 62 min: On the balance of second half play, West Ham probably deserve to be level. They've really taken the game to Everton since the interval. In the passage of play leading up to the corner from which they scored, Mark Noble rattled the crossbar with a great effort from 20 yards. 64 min: West Ham continue to turn the screw. On the bench, David Moyes tells Yakubu to put his game face on. 64 min: From an Everton corner, Radoslav Kovac wins two meaty challenges in quick succession and pings the ball to Junior Stanislas. He gallops towards the Everton penalty area and slots a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Carlton Cole. He scuffs his shot and sends a good scoring opportunity trickling harmlessly wide. 66 min: Cole goes down injured after a challenge from Johnny Heitinga. After receiving treatment, he walks gingerly to the touchline and returns to the fray. Everton substitution: Bilyaletdinov off, Yakubu on. 68 min: "I know not all my fellow Evertonians will agree (though many will) when I say that I'm very pleased for Zola," writes Gary Naylor. 69 min: "Re the shark vs the tiger," adds Naylor. "I remember reading that a shark keeps moving forward even when its brain is removed - like Mido." 70 min: Mark Noble gets booked for a foul on ... oh, that has to be a penalty. 71 min: Wow. West Ham dodge another bullet as Howard Webb fails to point to the spot after Louis Saha was brought down by Manuel Da Costa on the edge of the penalty area. That should definitely have been a penalty, which may explain the boos currently ringing around Goodison Park. 73 min: It's getting tasty. The tackles are flying in all over the park as Howard Webb struggles to keep order. It's a lot more entertaining than the first half, that's for sure. 75 min: Everton win a throw-in on the edge of the final third. Pienaar takes the ball into the corner and West Ham win a free-kick deep, deep in their own territory for a Yakubu foul on Scott Parker. 75 min: Scott Parker wins a corner for West Ham, which Mark Noble chips in from the left. As the ball sails in to the mixer, Howard Webb spots an infringement by Matthew Upson and awards Everton a free-kick. 78 min: West Ham susbtitution: Mido trudges off very, very slowly and is replaced by the Brazilian, Ilan, one of the 396 strikers the Hammers signed on transfer deadline day. 80 min: Zola applauds and roars encouragement from the sideline as West Ham continue their quest to find a winner. "Surely, it's more important to determine the type of shark involved than the venue?" asks Ryan O'Connell, who makes an interesting point. "I mean, a basking shark isn't going to trouble a tiger really, is it?" 81 min: Everton attack, with Saha playing the ball out wide to Pienaar on the right touchline. Scott Parker concedes a corner, which Leighton Baines trots across to send in with his left foot. 83 min: Baines sends the ball across the edge of the six yard box, but it's too high for Tim Cahill. The ball breaks and with his back to goal, Phil Jagielka tries a spectacular bicycle kick with predictably hilarious consequences. GOAL! Everton 2-1 West Ham (Yakubu 85) After sustained pressure by Everton, Leighton Baines sends in a cross from the left wing. Yakubu leaps majestically and powers an unstoppable header into the gap between Rob Green's fingertip and right upright. GOAL! Everton 2-2 West Ham (Ilan 87) The substitute Ilan scores with a marvellous diving header from 12 yards after flinging himself forwards to get on the end of a marvellous Julien Faubert cross from deep. That's a wonderful goal. 88 min: "What about a tiger versus a tiger shark ?" asks James Longhofer, apropos the serious business of the afternoon. 89 min: Matthew Upson concedes a free-kick in a dangerous position, about 45 yards out from his own goal. Baines pings the ball into the penalty area, where Upson heads clear. 90 min: Junior Stanislas wastes a good attacking opportunity, shooting from a narrow angle when he should have picked out a team-mate with a cross. 90+1 min: West Ham win a corner, 90 seconds into the three minutes injury time signalled on the board. 90+3 min: There's a pause in play as Tim Cahill gets treated for an injury he picked up while helping his side defend a corner. He appears to have hurt his back, perhaps by landing awkwardly on it after one of his trademark spring-heeled leaps. West Ham substitution: Junior Stanislas off, Danny Gabbidon on to steady the ship. West Ham will be delighted with a point here; It'll end their run of seven straight defeats and put them a sliver of daylight between themselves and fellow relegation battlers Hull City. Peep! Peep! Peep! It's all over. West Ham win a priceless point with a marvellous goal from Ilan, the substitute. Everton will defintiely see this as two points dropped rather than one gained. West Ham stay in 17th place, but go a point ahead of Hull, albeit having played one game more. Elsewhere in the Premier League today, Liverpool drew 1-1 with Birmingham, while Fulham beat Wigan 2-1. That's your lot from me - thanks for your time and enjoy the rest of your Easter Sunday.