West Ham 0-2 Everton: Toffees cruise past Hammers

Everton boosted their European qualification hopes with a dominant 2-0 victory against a lacklustre West Ham at the London Stadium.

First-half goals from Kurt Zouma and Bernard saw the Toffees continue their revival under Marco Silva as they secured back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since October.

West Ham, without captain Mark Noble and talisman Felipe Anderson, lacked leadership and creativity as they relinquished a six-game unbeaten home run.

The victory sees Everton climb above West Ham into ninth position, a point behind seventh-placed Wolves, with the Hammers now 11th.

Everton picked up from where they left off in their victory over Chelsea before the international break, taking just five minutes to hit the front.

Zouma easily outmuscled Issa Diop to meet a Gylfi Sigurdsson corner before diverting it into the ground and lopping into the top corner.

With West Ham's defence all at sea, Lukasz Fabianski single-handedly prevented Everton from running riot inside the opening 15 minutes, denying Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Sigurdsson and Bernard with three saves in quick succession.

But Everton got their second on 33 minutes. Seamus Coleman played a neat one-two with Richarlison to get in behind the West Ham defence before squaring for Bernard, who had the simple task of stroking his first Premier League goal home from close range.

Manuel Pellegrini brought Javier Hernandez and Michail Antonio on at the break, but the substitutions failed to spark a comeback, the Hammers failing to register a single attempt on target during a dreary second half.

As audible discontent from the home crowd grew, the hosts were fortunate not to lose by a greater margin, Richarlison missing the chance to add further gloss to Everton's victory when he cannoned a free header against the crossbar seven minutes from time.

Opta stats

• West Ham lost for the first time in their last seven Premier League games at London Stadium (W4 D2).
• Everton have netted 2+ goals in three consecutive away Premier League games for the first time since December 2016.
• West Ham mustered three shots in the game, their lowest tally in a home Premier League game since 2005-06.
• Everton secured a victory for the first time in their last 11 Premier League games in London (D3 L7).
• Everton boss Marco Silva ended a run of nine matches in London without a win in all competitions (W0 D1 L8).
• Everton's Kurt Zouma has scored two goals in 26 Premier League games this season, as many as he netted in his previous four campaigns in the competition (2 in 81 apps).
• Everton winger Bernard scored his first Premier League goal in his 28th appearance in the competition, ending a run of 1585 minutes without a goal.

The managers

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Manuel Pellegrini: "[It's] not only the worst home performance but the worst performance of the year - away or at home. We have lost a lot of games before but not playing the way we did today, without creating chances and conceding so many chances for Everton.

Marco Silva: "I'm very satisfied. We are working to achieve this type of performance. It was 2-0 at half-time but could have been three, four or five. We controlled the second half and had the best chance to score. Since the first minute we were the best team on the pitch, and from the first moment we created problems for them."

Man of the Match - Bernard

This award could quite easily have gone to anyone in an Everton shirt, but Bernard's performance was flawless. The Brazilian ruthlessly exploited the space afforded to him by the West Ham defence, who were baffled by his vision both on and off the ball. When he performs to such a high level, it's a wonder how it's taken this long for him to score his first Premier League goal.

What's next?

Live MNF

West Ham travel to Chelsea on Monday Night Football, live on Sky Sports Premier League, on April 8.

Live Renault Super Sunday

Before that, Everton host Arsenal at Goodison Park on Renault Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports Premier League, on April 7.