With Frank Lampard being a former West Ham United player who left the club in somewhat acrimonious circumstances and David Moyes once a long-serving Everton manager, this Sunday’s clash at Goodison Park possesses an extra bit of spice but the Blues might be able to take advantage from an unexpected weak link in the visitors’ armoury. Despite Moyes having guided the Hammers to impressive Premier League finishes of sixth and seventh over the previous two campaigns, they, like Everton, go into this weekend’s fixture with just four points from their first six matches of the current season and in the relegation zone on goal difference.
Although the Scot endured his fair share of slow starts during his 11-year tenure in charge of the Blues – they’d lost 12 of their initial 19 matches in the first half of 2005/06 – he’d more often than not turn things around in the end and despite coming to a club that had finished in the top half just once over the previous decade, steered Everton to nine top 10 placings, including their highest ever Premier League position of fourth in 2004/05. While Moyes carried out those achievements while often having to work on a tight budget – he famously compared having to compete with the finances of petrodollar-fuelled Manchester City was akin to “Taking a knife to a gunfight” – his teams were always expected to possess certain qualities.
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