Big players come good in big moments. on Sunday, Everton’s two pivotal players, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jordan Pickford had one moment apiece, but the manner in which they executed those moments secured Everton’s third Premier League victory of the season, albeit against a West Ham side who had neither big players, nor big moments.
Calvert-Lewin’s 50th Premier League goal for Everton was an oasis of quality in a cultural desert. Jarrad Branthwaite intercepted Aaron Cresswell’s poor clearance and coolly found Calvert-Lewin, who played a whiplash one-two with Jack Harrison before spinning imperiously around two bamboozled defenders and firing past Alphonse Areola. Wholly out of keeping with what preceded and followed it, it was a moment worthy of winning any game, even one as poor as this.
“Dom’s had a tough couple of years,” explained Sean Dyche, the Everton manager. “He’s looking stronger and sharper and he’s close to full fitness now. You can tell that in his desire, in his body language and in that finish.”
After that, West Ham had the bulk of possession, but they toiled in a laboured vein. For 90 minutes, Pickford had an afternoon of leisure spoiled only by his comical over-reaction, apropos of nothing, in the wake of James Tarkowski fouling Mohammed Kudus. Seemingly suggesting Kudus had exaggerated his response, Pickford picked up a yellow card and the ire of the increasingly disgruntled home support.
That seemed to be the most pulse-quickening moment of his afternoon, but, as added time began, Lucas Paqueta crossed to the back post where Said Benrahma lurked. The Algerian’s volley towards goal was hard and true, but Pickford’s save was world class. Certainly Calvert-Lewin’s goal won it for Everton, but Pickford’s save won it again.
In their first game after the death of chairman Bill Kenwright, Everton were good value for their victory. “Today was for him and his family,” said Dyche, “the players knew the depth of the love he had for the club.”
In a first half of almost mesmerising awfulness, Everton kept their heads and defended deeply, sometimes with six men across the back, against a team who looked heavy legged, despite starting with only three of those who began Thursday’s defeat by Olympiacos.
Come the second half, come Calvert-Lewin and then Pickford, but in-between, there was much to admire. Being ahead suited Everton. They had the clearest chance when Abdoulaye Doucoure sprinted through alone, only to be foiled by the excellent Areola, who also reacted athletically to tip over Dwight McNeil’s snapshot.
“My marker is that we’re better than last season,” said Dyche. “Games where you play really well tend to take care of themselves, but we’re finding different ways to win and we’ve shown that today.”
The six-man defensive line – expertly marshalled by Tarkowski and the fast-emerging Branthwaite – returned, but this time it had something to protect. As David Moyes, the West Ham manager, acknowledged, until his win-preserving moment, Pickford was supremely well protected by a succession of heroic, bodies-on-the-line blocks. “We just couldn’t get through,” he lamented.
For West Ham this was a dark day, and not merely because of the sepulchral gloom and near-silence which enveloped the London Stadium. This was their third defeat in eight days and the first time they had failed to score at home in 2023 and anywhere this season. They were as poor, but more supine than Everton in that grisly first period and out of ideas in the second as they evoked the darker days of last season.
“We were,” noted Moyes with a certain under-statement “not as good as we’d liked to have been.”
