West Ham 1-1 Everton
by Paul Donovan
at the Boleyn Ground

The unanimous view of both managers was that a draw was a fair result in this evenly matched game on Saturday. Though for long periods, the two sides cancelled each other out.

However, West Ham boss Slaven Bilic (pictured) was more worried about injuries to Dimitri Payet and Enner Valencia. “The international break comes at the right time with the injuries,” he said.

“We’re in a good position and want to finish as high as possible. I expect the players to come back hungry.”

On reflection, Bilic was pleased to get a point in a tight match.

“It was a good game, I was really happy with the way we played, especially in front of our own fans,” said Bilic. “They deserved a point, I can’t say it was not a fair result.”

Everton manager Roberto Martinez was full of praise for defender John Stones, who dominated at the back, snuffing out the threat of Andy Carroll.

“It was  an interesting challenge for John because he had to lead the back four. He was immense and produced a magnificent performance,” said Martinez, who felt his side might have nicked the result. “It was disappointing we did not find that little bit of magic in the second half.”

West Ham began the game well with Victor Moses in particular causing constant problems with his powerful running.

Moses went close twice in the first 15 minutes, shooting wide from a Payet cross, then seeing a header go over.

It was the 30th minute when West Ham got the breakthrough, when another Moses shot came back off Stones to the waiting Manuel Lanzini, who picked his spot and curled the ball into the right-hand corner of the net.

The lead did not last for long though, with Gerard Deulofeu splitting the West Ham defence with a beautifully weighted through ball, which put Romelu Lukaku in the clear. The big forward rounded the advancing Adrian and knocked the ball into an empty net.

The closest efforts after that came from a Winston Reid header over, then Lukaku squeezing an effort wide of the post.