It was a terrific match and probably the best performance by Everton this season. It was a game in which the blues played some very good football and created more openings than in the rest of the games put together this season! Everton started brightly and played some good football in the opening minutes however it was the Hammers that scored the first goal. Some neat inter-play on the edge of the box from Ashton and Benayoun before Harewood turned and fired an unstoppable shot past Sander Westerveld. You could feel that most fans thought that the game was over even after just 10minutes.

But for the first time this season the Everton players didnt accept defeat, they wanted this and the drew level after 18 minutes and it was the best move of the match. It was no surprise that involved the Man of the Match Mikel Arteta. Arteta teased the West Ham defence, played a 1-2 with McFadden before cleverly playing Osman for him to hammer home his 3rd goal of the season.

However the game soon turned in West Hams favour once again 5 minutes after the equaliser. Dean Ashton got on the end of a Marlon Harewood flick on before slotting the ball into the bottom corner. Once again though Everton's heads didn't drop and they showed the kind of fight that the fans had been praying for them to show. First of all James McFadden saw his flicked effort hooked off the line by Scaloni and then Alan Stubbs saw his header go straight into the arms of Shaka Hislop.

The second half was as good a performance as has been seen for quite a while from an Everton team. It was fast, fluid, attacking and full of desire, West Ham didn't know how to cope. The driving force of Tim Cahill, the skill of Leon Osman and the sheer brilliance of Mikel Arteta were just too much for the West Ham midfield as time and time again they came forward. It wasn't until the 71st minute when the rewards were gained. A dangerous ball in by Nuno Valente saw a poor defensive clearance fall to James Beattie who produced a sublime finish by lobbing Hislop for his 8th league goal in 19 starts.

It didn't end there, Everton just kept coming and coming especially the outstanding Spaniard Arteta. He was beating men at will at this point, it was as if Lionel Scaloni wasn't there. First of all Arteta ghosted past the Argentine full back only to see his low cross evade everyone in the box. Just moments later Arteta did exactly the same thing only this time he crossed the ball in the air. It produced an outstanding bit of defending from Danny Gabbidon to somehow head the ball over his own bar from 2 yards out when Simon Davies looked destined to score the winner. Arteta then went off with cramp, his replacement Kilbane had an immediate impact. Kilbane found himself free down the left but when a bit of composure was needed the final ball across the box was too hard to James Beattie, who only found the side netting from a couple of yards out. Beattie probably still should have scored though.

It was a pulsating game, both sides played good football and both had chances. Everton were the better of the two sides and looked like a team who finished 4th the season before. Despite not winning a game that they should have done it was not too dis-heartening. It was just pleasing to see some charachter from the players when they had gone behind to come back twice and show they believe they could win it. If they perform like that for the last 10 games then there is no reason why Everton cannot finish in the top half.

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