West Ham held in-form Everton to a dull goalless draw yesterday at the London Stadium. It was a game of half-chances, with no side forging any real clear-cut opportunities.
The point takes Everton above FA Cup finalists Arsenal into 6th place, but the Gunners do have 3 games in-hand on the Toffees. Whereas the point ensures West Ham remain in 13th spot, as the Hammers edge closer and closer to safety. They are basically there now with a 7-point lead over 18th placed Swansea with only 4 games remaining.
Slaven Bilic set up his side in a 5-3-2 formation, which seemed designed to limit the attacking potential of Everton, rather than to unlock their defence. The Hammers had a clear plan, to stop the supply to the Premier Leagues current top goal scorer, Romelu Lukaku. They did a fantastic job and Bilic was understandably delighted with his team’s defensive efforts.
Bilic said, “It was about stopping the service to Lukaku. He’s a major threat, scoring 24 goals. The next top goalscorer (for Everton) has four goals I think so it is about Lukaku. We stopped the service to him from (Ross) Barkley and (Kevin) Mirallas and when he was getting the ball, we tried to double him up.
“So the whole team, the three at the back, did a really amazing job on him. I’m really pleased with the way we played. Especially if you are talking about how solid we were, how composed we were, how we kept the shape. If you’re talking about effort, determination and defensive quality, then there’s nothing more I could ask from the players.
“They did brilliantly, I told them to be proud of themselves and to use this pattern as a motivation to boost their confidence for the remainder of the season,” added the Croatian.
As their manager states, the Hammers should take great heart from this performance. After a season where the defence has been a big problem (59 goals conceded in 34 league games) they showed that they still have the ability to shut out a top attacking team. Not many teams have managed to keep Lukaku so quiet this year.
It will also serve as a reminder to all that Bilic is an astute tactician. The Croatian has been heavily criticised at times this year, and so setting his team up in such a way to earn a valuable point when they were unfancied will taste very sweet indeed.
The next step for West Ham will be finding a consistency to this kind of defensive display, whilst trying to incorporate more attacking flair at the same time. This can be a solid starting point from which to build from as the Hammers look to finish the season on a high.