Neither side could find the back of the net as West Ham United held Everton to a 0-0 draw at the London Stadium.

The result means that Everton move up to 6th place on 58 points, with Arsenal just behind them on 57 points, but with three games in hand over the Merseyside club.

A new formation for Slav

West Ham started the game utilising the 3-5-2 formation, with Arthur Masuaku and Edimilson Fernandes both being played as wing backs, and the duo occupied their new positions well in the first half, with Fernandes in particular doing well to break down Everton attacks whilst creating chances for the Hammers on the attack down the right wing.

Everton, though, were able to adjust to the West Ham formation easily, with the Toffee’s able to exploit the centre of the pitch to their advantage with Idrissa Gueye and Tom Davies making defending difficult for the hosts.

Everton pinned back

The Hammers were the first side to attempt the scoring in the 27th min. Firstly Håvard Nordtveit tried his efforts from distance, but Maarten Stekelenburg easily latched onto the ball, and then moments later Cheikhou Kouyate too tried an effort from distance, however the Senegal international’s effort rolled just wide of the post.

Kouyate again tried to open the scoring for West Ham five minutes from half-time, when Manuel Lanzini floated in perfect ball to the holding midfielder, and the former Anderlecht player tried to go for the spectacular with a bicycle kick from 4-yards out, however Kouyate missed the ball completely, and ball was hoofed out for a wasted corner by Ashley Williams.

Changes at the interval

The start of the second half saw two change to Ronald Koeman’s side, with both Davies and Gueye being replaced by Gareth Barry and January signing, Ademola Lookman.

Neither side looked up to threatening each other, as the second half, similar to the first half, dragged out to another midfield battle between the two sides. West Ham fans had a reason to cheer, though, as striker Diafra Sakho made his home return to the Hammers side after missing the majority of the season with back and hamstring injuries.

Poor attacking from both sides

West Ham looked the brighter of the two sides in the second half, with Lanzini looking eager to break the deadlock as the Argentine playmaker danced his way through the Toffees defence, but his finishing was lacklustre at best, making it easy for Stekelenburg to deal with any danger.

The poor attacking displayed continued all the way too the final whistle, and the match ended in a disappointing stalemate.

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About the author
Dylan Walsh
Student at the University of Brighton, 20-years-old, Twitter: @dylanwalsh_