West Ham Utd 0 Everton 2: Yakubu back to haunt Hammers again
Nigerian striker returns to sink West Ham for second time in four days as Everton bandwagon gathers momentum
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Your support makes all the difference.West Ham will now be sick of the sight of Everton in general and yesterday's goalscorer Aiyegbeni Yakubu in particular after their second home defeat by the Merseysiders in four days. Having fed the Yak on Wednesday night to offer Everton a late passage to the Carling Cup semi-finals, West Ham's defence kept up his diet yesterday to help their resilient visitors extend their unbeaten run to 12 matches.
An aberration on the stroke of half-time gave the Nigerian his fifth goal in the space of a week and Everton completed their victory with a 93rd-minute effort from the man who replaced Yakubu, Andy Johnson. Everton are now within range of the four teams who will rumble into action this afternoon. The consensus within the game is that Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are in a mini-league of their own, but that contention clearly irritates Everton's manager David Moyes, who pointed out that his team had managed a top-four finish only two seasons ago.
"We probably have the best squad ever at the moment, but we still have to match the side which finished fourth two years ago and that will take some doing," he said. "People said we couldn't manage that place, but we did. And then people were saying it was a fluke, a blip. So we have to do it again."
It may be hard to see how it will happen, but certainly Everton are on an excellent run having won 10 of their last 12 games and the instincts of their 11.25m summer capture from Middlesbrough, who has the best Premier League scoring record of any player over the last four years save the departed Thierry Henry, are paying regular dividends.
West Ham's manager, Alan Curbishley, wore his default put-upon look afterwards as he bemoaned the calamitous injury record which has still prevented him bringing all the talents signed in the summer together in one team. Having lost Matthew Etherington to a groin strain, a similar injury deprived him yesterday of Danny Gabbidon the defender whose late misunderstanding with goalkeeper Robert Green had presented Yakubu with the chance to score his winner on Wednesday.
Luis Boa Morte was also unable to play yesterday, and Carlton Cole had to come off at half-time with a hip injury. Meanwhile Craig Bellamy, Julian Faubert, Bobby Zamora and Kieron Dyer struggle with long-term problems.
"It's frustrating," said Curbishley. "If you look at the most consistent sides outside the top four such as Everton, Aston Villa and Portsmouth, you can name their teams most weeks. But we don't seem to be able to keep a settled side."
Gabbidon's replacement, James Collins, himself just back from injury, clearly tired after an effective contribution. But it was his central defensive partner, Matthew Upson, who was left with most to regret after Tim Cahill beat him in the air to Mikel Arteta's 45th-minute cross from the left and gave the unmarked Yakubu a chance to nod home.
By that point West Ham, with Scott Parker playing a prime role, had missed a series of chances, with Tim Howard excelling himself to deny Freddie Ljungberg after 15 minutes and Dean Ashton dabbing Nolberto Solano's cross over eight minutes later.
Once Everton had taken the lead they rarely looked troubled. And as West Ham strove with increasing desperation to equalise they were caught on the break three minutes into added time as Upson misjudged a defensive header and allowed Johnson to lob the stranded and very unhappy Green.
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