Everton failed to tighten the screws on leaders Liverpool, with a sudden fall at home to West Ham 0-1,
at the opening of the seventeenth stage of the England soccer championship, Friday.
Everton remained in fourth place with 29 points, 4 points behind Liverpool, who play in this stage on Monday
at Southampton.
As for West Ham, it raised its tally to 26 points in tenth place, trailing five clubs preceding it in the standings
by goal difference, knowing that the victory is his first after failing to achieve any victory in the last 4 matches.
West Ham succeeded in braking Everton’s march to the summit, after the latter’s success in achieving remarkable
victories in the final stages over Chelsea, Leicester City and Arsenal.
The Everton coach kept the services of top scorer Dominic Calvin Lewin, despite the latter’s fasting for scoring
in the last four matches for his team in various competitions in which he scored 14 goals this season. But again,
he disappointed.
West Ham was the best party, and he had more than one opportunity over the two halves, most notably for
Aaron Creswell (30 and 62), Declan Rice (55) and Argentine Pablo Fornals (64).
On the other hand, Ancelotti threw all his offensive cards in the middle of the second half by engaging his
Colombian playmaker James Rodrigues, returning from an injury that kept him out of the field for about a month,
and Brazilian Richarlison without succeeding in shaking the net of the guests who snatched the victory with
the goal of Czech Tomas Sochi following a ball from Walking distance (85).
“It is a great win for us and a great start to the new year. We want to continue on this path,” said the owner of
the goal.
He added: “The most prominent opportunities for us and possession were for the opposing team, and we managed
to grab the victory at the end of the match.”
And later meet Manchester United and Aston Villa at Old Trafford in a match in which the former can level
with Liverpool points if he wins.
