West Ham United v Everton
Premier League, London Stadium, Saturday 21 January 2023, 3pm GMT
West Ham United return home for the first time in 2023 this weekend when Everton are the visitors to London Stadium in the Premier League.
Following three away games to begin the New Year - which brought an FA Cup win against Brentford, a draw at Leeds, and a narrow defeat to Wolves, the Hammers will be glad to get back on familiar ground for the visit of the Toffees.
Both teams come into the fixture in similar positions, needing a positive result to kick-start their campaigns after disappointing runs either side of the World Cup break.
While that 1-0 loss at Molineux last weekend left the Hammers 18th in the table and without a Premier League success in seven matches, Everton's wait for a top-flight win also stretches back to late October, with seven games following their last victory, too - at home to Crystal Palace.
Frank Lampard's side have 15 points, the same tally as the Hammers, and sit a place below in the standings with an inferior goal difference.
With three points and the opportunity to move up the table available to both, it promises to be a high-stakes afternoon in east London.
Tickets...
Tickets for this sold out game are available on the Ticket Exchange, with Season Ticket Holders who cannot attend this fixture relisting their seats for other supporters to buy. Click here to check availability or relist.
Travel...
The Central, Jubilee and Elizabeth lines, and Docklands Light Railway and London Overground are all set to serve Stratford as normal on Saturday, with no engineering work planned.
Greater Anglia services will also be running through Stratford, although supporters travelling from north of Bishop's Stortford should be aware of a line closure between Cambridge and Bishop's Stortford/Stansted Airport, where replacement buses will operate.
Southeastern services from Kent and London St Pancras to Stratford International are also planned to run as normal.
Click here to plan your journey on the Transport for London network, or here for National Rail services.
Tributes to David Gold...
The West Ham United family will come together before Saturday’s Premier League match against Everton to honour the memory of our beloved late Joint-Chairman David Gold.
In what will be the Club’s first home fixture since his sad passing on Wednesday 4 January at the age of 86, a sell-out 62,500 crowd at London Stadium will pay tribute to the life and career of a man who grew up at 442 Green Street, Upton Park, opposite the Boleyn Ground, played for the Club as a schoolboy, and took over as Joint-Chairman in 2010.
A one-minute period of applause will be held immediately before kick-off, as all of our loyal Season Ticket Holders and match-attending fans, along with directors, management, players, staff and Hammers legends stand together with the Joint-Chairman’s family.
Daughters Jacqueline and Vanessa, fiancée Lesley, and granddaughter Scarlett – who will lead out the West Ham United team – will be joined by Sporting Director Mark Noble in a poignant walk to the centre-circle, where floral tributes will be laid in his memory.
Supporters attending the match are asked to take their seats no later than 2.50pm in order to take part in the tribute.
Click here for full details.
How to Follow...
Saturday's game will not be broadcast live on television in the UK, but will be shown across the world by the Premier League's international broadcast partners.
You can listen to commentary in the UK on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio London 94.9FM and worldwide on whufc.com and our official app.
You can also follow the action via our live blog on whufc.com and our app and across our social media channels. We will also have highlights and exclusive reaction for you after the final whistle.
Official Programme…
West Ham United's 116-page Official Programme for Saturday's Premier League fixture with Everton is available to order online now for just £4, plus £1.49 postage and packaging*.
Copies will be sent via first-class post. Full-season subscriptions are also available, including all Premier League, FA Cup and EFL Cup home issues, from just £119, from the Club's official West Ham Programmes shop.
Team News...
Kurt Zouma returned to the West Ham United squad for last weekend's game at Wolverhampton Wanderers, following his recovery from knee surgery during the FIFA World Cup break, and adds to David Moyes' options at centre-back after sitting on the substitutes' bench at Molineux.
Alphonse Areola missed that game with a hip issue, while Maxwel Cornet continues his recovery from a calf injury.
Opposition...
Everton have never been relegated since the Premier League’s inception in 1992, although only a remarkable run of form at the end of 2021/22 preserved that impressive record.
Through the run-in, the Goodison Park faithful let the team know what it meant. And led by a raucous crowd, the Toffees defeated Chelsea, Manchester United and Crystal Palace at their historic home to finish 16th.
The question is, can they do it again? Now, almost a year down the line, Everton have found themselves in a similar position to the last campaign, anxiously peering over their shoulders at the drop zone once more and, like their hosts, badly in need of winning three points in east London on Saturday.
Sat with 15 points from 19 games played in the Premier League, Everton occupy 19th place ahead of the game. As they were this time last year, the Toffees need a turnaround.
Of course, Everton would have hoped that would not be the case. Plenty of the arrivals in the summer saw Frank Lampard pad his squad with Premier League regulars in the hope of pushing up the table and avoiding another season of struggle.
The signings of James Tarkowski, Neal Maupay, Conor Coady and Dwight McNeil were supplemented by the coveted young Belgian midfielder Amadou Onana, who arrived from Lille, while Idrissa Gueye returned from Paris Saint-Germain.
For whatever reason, though, the results have not followed, and that perfect Premier League attendance record is in danger yet again.
What makes it even more imperative that the Toffees avoid the stickiness of a drop to the Championship is that work is ongoing to complete the club’s new £500million stadium at Liverpool’s Bramley-Moore Dock, which is due to open in summer 2024.
And so, the pressure is on once more for Lampard and company to steer his squad clear of trouble. In the reverse fixture, Everton secured a narrow 1-0 win over West Ham United back in September thanks to Neal Maupay’s second-half strike, but victories have been hard to find overall in 2022/23.
Of course, while Lampard returns to the Club where he made his way as a teenager two decades ago, his opposite number will also be facing his former employers.
David Moyes will tackle the club he took to European football and the FA Cup final during his eleven years as manager on Merseyside between 2002-13.
Everton achieved their highest Premier League finish under the Scot, as players such as Tim Cahill, current Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta and Duncan Ferguson led the Toffees to fourth in 2004/05.
Eighteen years on, fourth from bottom would do.
Previous Meetings...
Although Everton secured all three points against the Hammers on Merseyside in September, West Ham United secured a league double over Everton last season.
Aaron Cresswell netted a delicious free-kick, before Jarrod Bowen secured all three points in a 2-1 win the last time the teams in east London - that in April last year.
Goals have been a common feature in this fixture. Everton put six past Shaka Hislop in 1999, while the Hammers edged a five-goal thriller at Goodison Park in 2016 under Slaven Bilic.
That day, Romelu Lukaku and Aaron Lennon put the Toffees two goals ahead on Mark Noble’s 250th Premier League appearance, before Michail Antonio started the comeback 12 minutes from time after Kevin Mirallas was sent-off.
After Lukaku missed a penalty, Diafra Sakho struck, before Dimitri Payet’s 90th-minute strike secured all three points. It was only the second time the Hammers had won a Premier League game after trailing by two goals. A classic - and then some.
Match Officials...
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistant Referees: Darren Cann & James Mainwaring
Fourth Official: Dean Whitestone
VAR: Andre Marriner
Assistant VAR: Adam Nunn
Stuart Attwell began refereeing seriously following his graduation from Stafford University and worked his way up through the West Midlands League and National League before joining the Football League list of referees in 2007.
Attwell was fast-tracked, becoming the youngest-ever referee to control a Premier League fixture when he officiated Blackburn Rovers’ 1-1 draw with Hull City on 23 August 2008, and being added to the FIFA List later the same year at the age of just 26.
In 2010, Attwell officiated in the Japanese J. League as part of a referee exchange programme, and he has since refereed matches in the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League, Premier League, EFL and UEFA age-group tournaments.
Overall, the 40-year-old has refereed West Ham United 18 times in total since April 2008, with his last assignment coming in our 1-0 defeat at Liverpool in October 2022.
