West Ham v Everton predictions: Hammers hitman can unsettle Toffees' soft centre

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for West Ham v Everton in the Premier League on Sunday.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event & Premier League, 4.30pm Sunday

Best bet

Michail Antonio to be first goalscorer
1pt 6-1 BoyleSports

Team news

West Ham
Angelo Ogbonna, Declan Rice and Arthur Masuaku are injured and Mark Noble is a doubt.

Everton
James Rodriguez and Jean-Philippe Gbamin are sidelined but Abdoulaye Doucoure could return to the squad.

Match preview

West Ham's 1-0 win over Everton on New Year's Day was the start of an excellent run of form in 2021 for the Hammers and they are solid favourites to complete a Premier League double over the Toffees.

A win would keep David Moyes's men in the thick of the top-four battle especially as they finish their campaign with winnable fixtures at Brighton and West Brom and at home to Southampton.

Their victory at Goodison Park was sealed by an 86th-minute tap-in from midfielder Tomas Soucek, who was West Ham's most reliable source of goals during the first half of the season.

Now, though, Moyes can unleash an array of in-form forwards and one of them, fit-again striker Michail Antonio, is a tempting price to open the scoring.

Antonio finished the 2019-20 season in a blaze of goals, scoring eight times in his last seven appearances to help the Hammers pull clear of the relegation zone.

Injuries have restricted him to 20 Premier League starts this term but his first-half brace in last weekend's 2-1 win at Burnley took his tally for the season to a respectable nine goals.

Attacking midfielders Jesse Lingard, Jarrod Bowen, Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma should provide excellent service for Antonio and full-backs Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell also like to get forward and put crosses into the box.

Antonio converted balls from Benrahma and Coufal at Turf Moor and the target man may well unsettle Everton's defence at the London Stadium.

The Toffees have done most of their winning away from home this season, claiming ten of their 15 league victories on the road, but they have slipped down the table following just one win in their last seven.

That victory was a fortunate one, too, as Bernd Leno dropped the ball into his own net to give Carlo Ancelotti's men a 1-0 win at Arsenal and they face a West Ham side who have won six of their last nine home games.

It would have been seven in nine if they hadn't blown a 3-0 lead against the Gunners and their only defeats during that run came against top-four rivals Liverpool and Chelsea.

They have scored the first goal in 12 of their 17 home matches this term and Antonio could be the latest centre-forward to exploit the weakness at the heart of the Everton defence.

Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins caused them problems last weekend, pouncing on an error to score the opener in a 2-1 win at Goodison, and Fulham's Josh Maja scored twice from close range against the Toffees in February.

Callum Wilson, Edinson Cavani, Chris Wood and Harry Kane have also opened the scoring against Everton since the turn of the year and Michy Batshuayi came off the bench to claim a late equaliser for Crystal Palace last month.

Key stat

West Ham have scored the first goal in seven of their last nine home league matches.

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