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Dan Coker's Match Preview

Match Preview: Everton v West Ham

PARISH NOTICE: Apologies that the Predictor League for the Everton game wasn’t working until late last night. It’s now fully functional, so you have until 12.25pm tomorrow lunchtime to get your entry in.

Blast from the past

West Ham United recorded their first ever win at Goodison Park just over 90 years ago, on the 4th September 1926. Legendary forward Vic Watson (pictured below) bagged a brace for the Hammers in a 3-0 victory in front of 26,957, while Geordie inside-forward Billy Moore struck the other goal. Syd King’s Irons went on to finish in 6th place in the top flight that season, the highest League position up to that point in their history, while Everton in contrast suffered one of their worst campaigns as they finished 20th, one place and four points above the relegation places, with only 34 points won from 42 matches. Newcastle won the league title in 1926/27, finishing ten points clear of the Hammers, and Cardiff won the FA Cup.

Everton have certainly been the Hammers’ bogey side in recent seasons – we have only beaten the Toffees once in the league, home or away, since April 2007, drawing four and losing nine in all competitions since then. The last five wins at Goodison Park have been separated by an 11-year sequence – in 1972, 1983, 1994, 2005 and 2016.

Everton: Howard Baker, David Raitt, John McDonald, John Peacock, David Reid, Hunter Hart, Thomas Parker, Bobby Irvine, Arthur Dominy, Herbert Batten, Walter Weaver.

West Ham United: Ted Hufton, John Hebden, Syd Bishop, George Carter, Jim Barrett, Jimmy Collins, Tommy Yews, Stan Earle, Vic Watson, Billy Moore, Jimmy Ruffell.

Club Connections

Considering they have spent the majority of their respective histories at a reasonably similar level, West Ham United and Everton have shared relatively few players. Slaven Bilic returns to Goodison Park having played for Everton after leaving West Ham in 1997. Enner Valencia is currently on loan from West Ham at Everton but Premier League rules mean he cannot face the Hammers. Others who have appeared for both clubs include:

Goalkeepers: George Kitchen, Richard Wright.

Defenders: William Wildman, George Eccles, David Unsworth, Lars Jacobsen, Lucas Neill.

Midfielders: Don Hutchison, Joe Blythe, Mark Ward, Ray Atteveld, Niclas Alexandersson, Danny Williamson, Ian Bishop, Thomas Hitzlsperger.

Strikers: Tony Cottee, Mike Newell.

Today’s focus falls on a player who spent just under a year with the Hammers before joining Everton. Born in Dudley on 25th October 1968, David Burrows spent three years playing for West Brom before a five-year stint at Liverpool. The 24-year-old joined Billy Bonds’ West Ham United on 17th September 1993 in a deal which saw Julian Dicks move to Anfield with Burrows and Mike Marsh moving in the other direction to Upton Park. The flame-haired left-back got off to a great start in claret and blue, contributing to an impressive 2-0 win at Blackburn on his maiden start the day after signing and scoring from a free-kick on his home debut in a 5-1 League Cup second round first leg triumph over Chesterfield on 22nd September 1993. Burrows’ second and, ultimately, final goal for the Hammers was the early opener in a 3-1 home win over Manchester City on 1st November 1993, slamming home an indirect free-kick inside the penalty area after a Keith Curle back-pass to goalkeeper Tony Coton.

Burrows helped the Hammers consolidate in their first Premier League season, finishing 13th in 1993/94 and reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. He started the first four matches of the 1994/95 campaign but his final match for the Hammers was a 3-1 home defeat to Newcastle on 31st August 1994 – Harry Redknapp had taken over as manager and, after two goals in 35 appearances, ‘Bugsy’ was returning to Merseyside to sign for Everton. West Ham legends were involved in both Burrows’ arrival at and departure from Upton Park – after joining the Hammers in a move which saw Dicks depart, Burrows joined the Toffees in another part-exchange deal in September 1994 with Tony Cottee returning to Upton Park. Dicks was to return to east London himself a month later.

Burrows joined Mike Walker’s Blues in September 1994 but his time at Goodison was short-lived, spending just six months at the Club and making 23 appearances before new manager Joe Royle sold him to Coventry in March 1995 for a fee of £1.1 million. Burrows played in the 1-0 FA Cup third round home win over Derby and the 1-0 fourth round victory at Bristol City but had departed by the time the Toffees won the competition in May 1995 with a 1-0 Wembley win over Manchester United.

After five years with the Sky Blues, Burrows struggled to regain his starting place after returning from injury and moved to Birmingham on a free transfer in the summer of 2000. Sheffield Wednesday signed Burrows on a free transfer in March 2002 but injuries once again dogged him, forcing him to quit the professional game in May 2003. Burrows, who turned 48 last Tuesday, emigrated to France with his wife and three children; he spent a few years turning out for his local side in the Dordogne. In April 2014 Burrows appeared for the Liverpool Legends team in the Hillsborough charity match where he showed that he hadn’t lost his competitive edge with some crunching tackles on Jari Litmanen.

Referee

The referee on Sunday will be Anthony Taylor – the Hammers were allocated the 38-year-old on five occasions last season as he took charge of our defeat at Tottenham, as well as our home win over Newcastle which came just three games after he had controversially sent off Adrian against Leicester. He was also the man in the middle for our FA Cup third round win over Wolves and our 3-2 win at Everton in March. Most recently, Taylor took charge of our 2-1 defeat at Chelsea in August, awarding the home side a penalty and later controversially failing to issue a second yellow card to Diego Costa for an awful lunge at Adrian – Costa remained on the pitch to score the 89th-minute winner.

Indeed, controversy and incident are never far away when the Cheshire-based official is the referee for a West Ham United match, especially when Everton are also involved. Taylor is the referee who had not one, but two red cards rescinded from the same game after he had sent off Carlton Cole and Darron Gibson in the Hammers’ 2-1 home defeat to Everton in December 2012. He sent off the home side’s Kevin Mirallas against the Hammers at Goodison Park in March and awarded the Toffees a penalty which Romelu Lukaku saw saved by Adrian.

Sunday will mark the third season in a row that Taylor has officiated West Ham at Goodison Park as he also refereed our 1-1 FA Cup third round draw there in January 2015, when Lukaku scored a stoppage time equaliser. He was also in charge when the Hammers took on the Blues’ Merseyside rivals Liverpool at Upton Park in April 2014, awarding a controversial and ultimately match-winning penalty. There was also controversy surrounding Guy Demel’s equaliser for West Ham in that game.

Possible line-ups

Everton’s Tyias Browning, Matthew Pennington, Muhamed Besic, James McCarthy and Arouna Kone have been ruled out for the visit of the Hammers. Leighton Baines could also be absent with a persistent hamstring injury. Enner Valencia, on loan from West Ham, is ineligible to play against his parent club due to Premier League rules. Romelu Lukaku has scored in every game he’s played for Everton against West Ham, netting in eight consecutive matches between the sides in all competitions.

For West Ham United, Sam Byram, Arthur Masuaku, Gokhan Tore and Andy Carroll are on the sidelines. Diafra Sakho could return after the international break next month. Slaven Bilic may only make one change from the midweek League Cup fourth round win over Chelsea, with Adrian returning to replace Darren Randolph. Andre Ayew, who made his return as a substitute in Wednesday’s victory, is likely to again start on the bench. Winston Reid and Mark Noble are one yellow card away from a one-match suspension.

Possible Everton XI: Stekelenburg; Coleman, Williams, Jagielka, Oviedo; Gana, Barry; Bolasie, Barkley, Mirallas; Lukaku.

Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Kouyate, Reid, Ogbonna; Fernandes, Obiang, Noble, Cresswell; Lanzini, Antonio, Payet.

Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!

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