West Ham led twice, but they could not hold on late in the match. A red card sparked an Everton comeback in the final ten minutes, Leighton Baines scored two beautiful free kicks, and Romelu Lukaku scored in his debut to give the Toffees their first away league win since January 2nd against Newcastle.
West Ham United vs. Everton: Final score 2-3, Lukaku scores the winner on his Everton debut
Everton went down twice but after a red card late to Mark Noble, Leighton Baines and Romelu Lukaku scored to grab a victory for the Toffees.
West Ham were the better side in the first half and it really wasn’t even that close. It just took them awhile to finally get the goal they rightly deserved, even if it did end up being a bit dubious...not that they cared.
After coming close a couple times, West Ham broke through in the 32nd minute when Ravel Morrison was left in a pocket of space 20-yards from goal. Morrison's shot took a deflection off Sylvain Distin's hip, sending Tim Howard left as the ball went right and put the Irons in front 1-0.
Roberto Martinez wasn't thrilled with his team's performance and made a double switch at halftime bringing on Romelu Lukaku and James McCarthy. The move immediately help Everton's play, but Leon Osman's injury less than five minutes into the second half forced another substitution, leaving the Toffees to play the final 40 minutes with no subs.
Everton began turning the screws and testing the West Ham defense and after James Collins brought down Ross Barkley 25-yards out, it was time for Leighton Baines to step up. The fullback curled a lovely free kick around the wall and into the top right corner of the net past a diving Jussi Jaaskelainen to pull Everton even at 1-1 in the 62nd minute.
West Ham took the lead back in the 76th minute after James McCarthy brought down Kevin Nolan in the box, giving the Irons a penalty that was easily scored by Mark Noble. The play probably never should have gotten that far, but Mladen Petric completely outmuscled Phil Jagielka to regain control of the ball and find Nolan in space. After that it was a simple combination of a poor decision by McCarthy and Nolan going down like a ton of bricks.
The West Ham goal scorer was sent off five minutes later after picking up a second yellow card for bringing down Barkley five yards outside the box.
Baines lined up the ensuing free kick and pinged his shot off the inside of the post and into the back of the net to make it 2-2 with seven minutes to play.
Two minutes later Romelu Lukaku bravely went after a Mirallas cross and headed the ball past Jaaskelainen to complete the Everton comeback. Lukaku collided with Joey O'Brien on the goal and went down, appearing to be out cold for a moment before finally walking off with some assistance after a few minutes on the ground.
Lukaku returned to play and seemed alright.
Everton held on through seven minutes of stoppage time to claim the three points and remained the only EPL side without a loss this season.
West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Rat, Reid, Collins, O’Brien, Noble, Diamé, Morrison, Nolan (Taylor 80’), Jarvis (Vaz Te 72’), Maīga (Petric 63’).
Goals: Morrison (32’), Noble (76’)
Everton: Howard, Colman, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Osman (Oviedo 51’), Barry, Naismith (McCarthy 45’), Barkley, Mirallas, Jelavic (Lukaku 45’)
Goals: Baines (62’), Baines (83’), Lukaku (85’)
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