UK Edition
West Ham United 0 Everton 0: Honours even after disappointing goalless draw
Sometimes statistics do not tell the whole story but they were pretty damning on a dismal afternoon at the London Stadium. Zero shots on goal from Everton, only two from West Ham, no goals, no frills and few thrills.
West Ham had the excuse of having little to play for, apparently safe from relegation but without much chance of upward mobility. Everton, who had not lost at West Ham for ten years, would have moved into fifth place if they had won but never looked like scoring.
Ronald Koeman summed up the mood in his post-match press conference. “I'll keep this short because there is not much to say,” he said, before adding: “If the rules allowed I would have made ten substitutions at half-time.”
Slaven Bilic was more upbeat, the point gained here helping the Hammers edge themselves along the precipice of a relegation scrap although Swansea City's victory over Stoke means West Ham are only seven points above the danger zone, with four games to go.
He thought his side deserved to win, and was happier with their performance of his side than his counterpart. “I am really pleased with the way we played, how solid and composed we were.”
He was particularly delighted that his switch to a three-man defence with a view to snuffing out the threat of Romelu Lukaku worked. The Belgian is the Premier League's top scorer and had scored in his nine previous games against West Ham, but starved of service, did not get a sniff of goal except for when Adrian, returning in goal for West Ham, dithered over a throw-in from team-mate Edmilson Fernandes and had to scramble the ball clear.
Almost an hour had passed before Lukaku had a chance to run at West Ham's defence, going past two men and into the penalty area before being tackled. “Lukaku is their main threat, with 24 goals. The next top scorer has four goals, I think,” added Bilic.
“We stopped the service to him, and when he got the ball we doubled up on him.”
Everton were strangely somnolent and did not register an effort on goal until the 70th minute when substitute Ademola Lookman fired well wide from 30 yards. The young winger also shot just over the bar from long range soon afterwards, but that was the closest Everton got to threatening Adrian's goal.
West Ham were not much better in terms of chances created, forcing only one first-half save from Maarten Stekelenburg, playing his first game of the year, when Havard Nordtveit fired in a rebound after his initial shot was blocked from 35 yards. Their next effort on target came 45 minutes later, a tame shot from Manuel Lanzini that was saved comfortably.
Jose Fonte had the final chance of the game, a far post header from a corner, but he put the ball tamely into Stekelenburg's hands. It summed up a disappointing game.