West Ham United v Everton
Premier League, London Stadium, Sunday 3 April 2022, 2pm
West Ham United return to Premier League action after the spring international break on Sunday, when Everton are the visitors to London Stadium.
David Moyes’ side go into the weekend seeking to bounce back from a 3-1 top-flight defeat at Tottenham Hotspur a fortnight ago, albeit that loss came just three days after the Hammers knocked Sevilla out of the UEFA Europa League round of 16 on an unforgettable night in east London.
The Irons sit seventh in the Premier League table, with 48 points from 30 games, and remain in the race to secure European qualification for the second straight season.
Everton, meanwhile, have another battle on their hands. Former West Ham and England midfielder Frank Lampard's Blues sit 17th in the standings, with 25 points from 27 games played.
No team has collected fewer points away from home than Everton's six, while Sunday's visitors from Merseyside have lost nine and drawn two of their previous eleven Premier League matches away from Goodison Park.
Another away defeat for Everton would also see West Ham win three home Premier League games in a row for the first time since March 2021.
Ticket news
Tickets for Sunday's game are available on the Ticket Exchange. Click here to be at London Stadium this weekend!
Seats are also available on the Ticket Exchange for our upcoming home Premier League fixture with Burnley and General Sale for the visit of Arsenal.
Click here to watch West Ham United in action live now!
How to follow
Sunday's 2pm kick-off will be broadcast live in the UK by Sky Sports and will also be screened around the world by the Premier League's international broadcast partners.
For details of international coverage of the game, click here.
We will be covering the game live with a blog and audio commentary on whufc.com and our Official App and across our social media channels, with goals, highlights and exclusive reaction to follow after the final whistle.
Update on supporter access to London Stadium
West Ham United can provide an update to supporters on their access to London Stadium for the remainder of the 2021/22 season, following the Government’s easing of COVID-19 Autumn and Winter Plan B restrictions.
In line with the latest Government guidance, COVID passes will no longer be a condition of entry to Premier League matches.
Supporters will no longer be required to complete a health declaration form before the match, nor present any form of COVID certification on matchday.
West Ham United, the Premier League and its clubs continue to urge fans to follow public health guidance to keep each other safe on a matchday, including wearing face coverings when indoors or in crowded areas.
A Code of Conduct remains in place and is updated to reflect the latest changes in Government and Premier League guidance. As COVID-19 restrictions ease, it is vital supporters continue to do all they can to minimise the risk of passing on COVID
Supporters should note that stadium access processes continue to remain subject to change, in line with changes to COVID protocols or guidance issued by the Government, Premier League and SGSA.
Official Programme
Sunday's 116-page Official Programme for Sunday's game is available to order online.
Packed with exclusive content, West Ham United's matchday magazine has something to satisfy every supporter!
You can order your copy for just £3.50 each, plus £1.49 postage and packaging*, by clicking here now.
Fans who missed out on buying a copy of the previously sold-out issue for our UEFA Europa League round of 16 second-leg win over Sevilla can order a copy online or buy one in-person at London Stadium on Sunday from the Stadium Store.
Team news
David Moyes expects both forward Jarrod Bowen and defender Vladimír Coufal to return to action in the coming weeks after both returned to training following heel and hernia issues respectively.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, the West Ham United manager was ambivalent as to whether those returns could come on Sunday, but did say 'there is a chance' the forward and right-back could both face Everton.
Manuel Lanzini was involved in a car accident on Thursday, but avoided serious injury and is available for selection.
While he has stepped up his rehabilitation, Angelo Ogbonna remains unavailable following knee surgery back in November.
Everton will be without Colombia centre-back Yerry Mina (thigh) and England midfielder Fabian Delph (thigh), while midfielder Allan is suspended after being sent-off against Newcastle United before the international break.
Midfielder Tom Davies (thigh) is out for the season, as is winger Andros Townsend (knee), but midfielder Donny van de Beek and goalkeeper Asmir Begović should be recovered from illness.
The opposition – Everton
In 123 seasons of official English League football, Everton have competed outside the top division in just four of them.
The Blues have been a First Division or Premier League club in a record 119 seasons since becoming founder members of the Football League in 1888 – eleven more than any other.
It is 68 years since Everton were last outside the top-flight, meaning today’s visitors have competed at the highest level of football in this country in every season since 1954/55 – second only to Arsenal’s 96.
For decades, relegation was a word that seldom came into the conversation at Goodison Park, as Everton instead regularly challenged at the top of the First Division table, winning the title in 1963 and 1970.
Then, under the management of the legendary Howard Kendall, the Toffees became serial trophy winners in the 1980s – a decade when Liverpool was the undisputable home of football in this country – adding two more League titles, an FA Cup, European Cup Winners’ Cup and four consecutive FA Charity Shields.
Since then, however, the Blues have faded, with just a single FA Cup and Charity Shield lifted in the last 34 years.
Under David Moyes, Everton mounted regular challenges for a place in the Premier League’s top six and reached an FA Cup final in the 2000s and early 2010s, but the dominance of Manchester United and Arsenal then, and the subsequent arrival of billionaire owners at Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool meant further trophies were impossible to come by.
Everton now have their own billionaire owner in British-Iranian businessman Farhad Moshiri and the club has invested hundreds of millions in high-profile players and managers but, so far at least, the success enjoyed by those other clubs mentioned has eluded The People’s Club.
Now, more alarmingly, there is a very real prospect that Everton’s long and, at times, illustrious stay in English football’s top division could come to an end after 68 seasons.
With the Blues seemingly unable to arrest an alarming run of form under Rafael Benítez, Moshiri acted in January, replacing the former Liverpool manager – whose appointment split sections of the Goodison fanbase – with former West Ham United, Chelsea and England midfielder and ex-Derby County and Chelsea boss Frank Lampard.
The 43-year-old has been given some new players to work with too, most notably Dele Alli and Donny van de Beek, but results have so far remained inconsistent.
A dramatic 1-0 victory over Newcastle United before the international break has given the Blues a lift, but they remain precariously placed and probably need four more wins to secure their precious Premier League status.
Previous meetings
West Ham United welcome Everton to east London for the 52nd Premier League meeting between the two clubs on Sunday afternoon.
The Blues hold the all-time edge, winning 27 of the previous 51 meetings, with 13 draws and just eleven victories for the Hammers.
West Ham’s biggest Premier League victories over Everton were the 3-1 wins achieved at London Stadium on the final day of the 2017/18 season, when Manuel Lanzini scored two goals, and at Goodison Park in September of the same year, when Andriy Yarmolenko was among the scorers.
Everton’s most emphatic Premier League win over West Ham was their 6-0 success at Goodison Park in May 1999.
The last three top-flight games between the two have ended in 1-0 victories - two at Goodison Park for West Ham and one at London Stadium for Everton in May last year.
David Moyes, of course, managed Everton successfully for just over eleven years between March 2002 and May 2013, taking charge of 516 matches, winning 217 of them and guiding the Blues to a top-four finish in 2004/05 and the 2009 FA Cup final.
Moyes is now in his second spell as West Ham manager and takes charge of the Hammers for the 140th time on Sunday afternoon.
Of the previous 139, seven have come against Everton, with three Premier League wins, two defeats and a draw, as well as an EFL Cup fourth round defeat at Goodison Park in September 2020.
Bobby Moore Fund
Bobby Moore was just 51 years old when he died. Shortly after his death in 1993, Bobby’s widow Stephanie Moore OBE set up the Bobby Moore Fund as a restricted fund of Cancer Research UK to raise money for pioneering bowel cancer research.
Since Bobby’s death, the generosity of our supporters has enabled us to raise over £29 million and mortality rates for bowel cancer have fallen by more than 30%.
But sadly, the disease still kills 45 people in the UK every day, showing we still have a long way to go to achieve our goal of tackling bowel cancer.
It's time to tackle bowel cancer. In the 29 years since the Bobby Moore Fund was set up, we've come so far. And together we will go much further. Play your part by donating to our life-saving research today.
Match officials
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt & Simon Bennett
Fourth Official: David Coote
VAR: Andy Madley
Assistant VAR: Nick Hopton
Born in Ashington, Northumberland in February 1985, Michael Oliver has been a member of the Select Group of Referees since August 2010, when he was just 25.
Oliver started refereeing in the Northern Premier League from 2003 to 2005 before quickly working his way up through the National League and EFL to reach the Premier League in January 2010.
The 37-year-old refereed the 2007 Conference National and 2009 League One Play-Off finals and controlled the 2016 EFL Cup final, 2018 FA Cup final and 2021 FA Cup final, which saw Leicester City overcome Manchester City 1-0 to win the trophy.
Oliver was appointed to the FIFA List in 2012 and has since refereed competitive and friendly international, UEFA Champions League and Europa League fixtures.
He has refereed West Ham United on 33 occasions, including the penultimate game at the Boleyn Ground against Swansea City in May 2016, and most-recently the 2-2 Premier League draw at Leicester City in February this year.