Liverpool (AFP) – Everton climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone on Saturday with a well-deserved 2-0 victory against West Ham that eased the pressure on Marco Silva.
The Portuguese boss described the match at Goodison Park as a “must-win” game following four straight league defeats and a goal from Brazil forward Bernard in the 17th minute set his side on their way.
Everton dominated the match and had multiple chances to extend their lead but had to wait until injury time to score their second, through late substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Victory in Saturday’s early kick-off lifted Everton to the relative safety of 12th in the table, one place above struggling Manchester United, ahead of the later fixtures.
The home side took the lead when, having looked like he might have missed the opportunity to shoot, Bernard twisted past Arthur Masuaku and slipped the ball under goalkeeper Roberto.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side were disappointing in the first half but made it to the break trailing by just one goal.
Everton’s Richarlison had the ball in the net just after the re-start following a neat build-up but his well-taken effort was ruled out for off-side.
Pablo Fornals had a golden chance to equalise just five minutes into the second half but he could only steer it wide of the left post, falling to his knees in disappointment.
Everton were quickly into their stride again and Yerry Mina had two chances with headed efforts but on both occasions Roberto was equal to the task.
Alex Iwobi looked certain to double the lead with less than a quarter of an hour ago but poked the ball straight at Roberto when clean through.
Despite being outplayed, West Ham were still in the game and earned a couple of late chances against an increasingly edgy Everton.
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford did well to keep out a deflected close-range strike from Angelo Ogbonna.
But the home side finally earned themselves some breathing space when Sigurdsson curled the ball past the diving Roberto from the edge of the box.
