Romelu Lukaku’s cool finish earns Everton a point at West Ham United

Romelu Lukaku continued to wage his personal crusade against West Ham, scoring on his seventh successive appearance against the Hammers on a muggy, dirty wet afternoon at a slightly subdued Upton Park. Otherwise this was a low-pressure meeting of two neat, quick-passing teams, illuminated by some nice touches but little in the way of unbound attacking play. When counter-attack meets counter-attack the result is often strangely lukewarm, and neither team here looked to have the will to commit to a more aggressive approach. By the end a 1-1 draw seemed fair enough in a game marked out by two fantastic first half goals, the first a dreamy finish by Manuel Lanzini, the second from Lukaku made by an outstanding through pass by Gerard Deulofeu.
If there was little in the way sustained pressure, it wasn’t for the want of attacking talent on the pitch. Both teams had lined up in a sprightly-looking 4-2-3-1, with Andy Carroll starting his second Premier League game in a row for the first time since January for West Ham and Dimitri Payet and Deulofeu both in fine form of late. In the event Carroll was applauded from the pitch having done very little of note, having spent much of the previous 86 minutes chasing John Stones, who was hugely composed throughout. Payet suffered a heavy tackle in the first half from James McCarthy and never recovered.