Jumping up two places in the Premier League table without even kicking a ball, Everton – recipients of the heaviest Premier League points docking ever handed down – saw their 10-point punishment for breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules reduced to six in midweek.
Sean Dyche’s troops are not quite out of the woods yet, though, as they remain at risk of a further penalty for a second PSR charge, but having momentarily gained four of their hard-earned points back, Everton have left Nottingham Forest and Brentford in their wake.
The hosts’ points column now reads 25 thanks to their respectable 1-1 draw versus Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend, where much-coveted defender Jarrad Branthwaite added a few more pounds to his value with a stunning opener, but his opposite number Lewis Dunk struck deep into added time for the 10-man Seagulls.
With there being no repeat of last season’s 5-1 Amex annihilation, Everton’s winless run across all competitions now stands at six matches since January’s FA Cup triumph over Crystal Palace, and a nine-game streak without success in the top flight has done their survival prospects no good either.
Five of the hosts’ last six engagements in the Premier League have seen Dyche’s men share the spoils, and an unwanted club record could now be matched by the Toffees, who have previously only gone seven league games without a win at the start of a year in 1989 and 2004.
Up until Monday evening, West Ham fans could empathise with their Everton counterparts over dismal winless runs in the Premier League, but after eight straight games without success in 2024, the Irons made a declining Brentford side their first victims of the New Year.
Jarrod Bowen became the first West Ham player to score a Premier League hat-trick at the London Stadium – sealing his first senior treble in just over an hour – and a 25-yard rocket from Emerson Palmieri also ensured that Neal Maupay and Yoane Wissa’s efforts would count for nought in a 4-2 thriller.
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By virtue of claiming their first Premier League victory since late December, David Moyes’s troops have also shot up two places in the rankings – leapfrogging Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers into eighth place – and only Brighton’s superior goal difference is keeping the Hammers outside of the European spots.
Continental matters will soon take centre stage again for the Europa Conference League holders, who reunite with Freiburg in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday, and ending a four-game winless run on the road – in which they have failed to score on three occasions – would be ideal preparation for a trip to Germany.
Moyes also returns to his former stomping ground seeking vengeance for Everton’s 1-0 win at the London Stadium in October – the Toffees prevailed by the same scoreline at Goodison Park in 2022-23 – but not since Roberto Martinez was at the helm in 2014-15 have the hosts done the double over West Ham.
