A round-up of how the national media reported on Everton's 2-1 defeat to West Ham United at London Stadium
Everton suffered stoppage time agony for the second consecutive weekend as they were beaten 2-1 by West Ham United at London Stadium.
After suffering the same fate in the first-ever Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium the weekend before, the Blues were desperate to bounce back and record a victory that would have moved them up to seventh in the Premier League table.
But after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall looked to have rescued a point for David Moyes' men, up popped nemesis to Callum Wilson to win it late on.
Here’s a round-up of how the national media reported on the action...
*In the Daily Mail, Nathan Salt wrote: "*If West Ham did things the easy way then they wouldn’t be in this mess. So when news filtered through that Joao Palhinha had put Tottenham Hotspur in front at Wolves and four minutes later Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall smashed in an equaliser for Everton that plunged West Ham into the relegation zone on goal difference, many supporters wanted to blow out the candles, pop the balloons and go home. This party was over.
"But this West Ham side aren’t mentally fragile. Not like Tottenham have proven to be. And so fans stayed. The rallying cry from club legends, the manager, captain Jarrod Bowen, it was heeded by thousands in a fanbase that are no stranger to leaving in their droves due to being let down by those on the pitch.
The gladiatorial roar rang around the London Stadium with eight added minutes illuminated on the fourth official’s board. Nuno Espirito Santo still a figure of remarkable calmness. Inside his stomach will have been doing the same cartwheels those in the stands were suffering from.
"Then it arrived. That moment. The one that thousands of West Ham fans may look back on as the moment that saves their Premier League status. Caution firmly thrown to the wind, El Hadji Malick Diouf galloped forward before whipping in a cross in hope rather than expectation.
"At the far post there was Bowen, who had teed up Tomas Soucek for the first with a brilliant corner, who managed to elongate every inch of his frame to head it back across where Callum Wilson, on from the bench, converted to put the cherry on top of the cake.
"They got that luck again when Mateus Fernandes escaped a handball swipe from behind Barry that VAR, bizarrely, waved away.
"Accidental contact, came the verdict from VAR Michael Salisbury. Everton were incensed - with good reason. West Ham collectively produced a huge sigh of relief."
Jacob Steinberg of the Guardian wrote: "Earlier in the season there would have been no coming back from such a crushing blow. It would have been the start of a vintage West Ham collapse. Another disappointment for the home support to absorb, another lead lost, another squandered advantage inching Nuno Espirito Santo’s side towards the Championship.
"Two minutes of the 90 remained when Vitalii Myolenko crossed, James Tarkowski won the first header and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall lashed Everton level. Say farewell to the lifeline.
"West Ham had just enjoyed an almighty escape, the officials somehow failing to award a penalty for a blatant handball by Mateus Fernandes. But when their luck ran out and Dewsbury-Hall scored with Everton’s next attack it seemed that the story was going to be about Nuno’s caution backfiring and West Ham losing ground in their shootout for survival with Tottenham, who had finally found a way past Wolves at Molineux.
"At that point West Ham were sliding back into the bottom three with games against Brentford, Arsenal, Newcastle and Leeds to come. Four minutes later, though, another shift. They were into the second of eight added minutes and Callum Wilson, who had entered the fray with West Ham clinging on to their 1-0 lead, had done what he tends to do against Everton: score.
"Wilson’s ninth goal in his past eight appearances against Everton kept Tottenham in 18th and West Ham two points above them."
"Nuno has recovered from a poor start to his time at West Ham. He has changed the mood since the turn of the year, instilling heart and desire. This was far from a flawless performance — West Ham were nervous during the first half and too quick to drop back after opening the scoring — but the grit was reminiscent of how they were during David Moyes’ two spells.
"The one consolation for Moyes is that defeat in the 750th Premier League game of his managerial career, on his 63rd birthday, owed much to contributions from two of his best signings for West Ham.
"The Hammers were struggling before Bowen and Tomas Soucek joined them in January 2020. Six years on, both are still going strong. They have shown leadership during a fraught campaign and their importance was clear here, not least when Bowen swung in a corner for Soucek to punish Everton’s growing frailties at set pieces and make it 1-0 in the 51st minute.
"They are West Ham’s reliables. Theirs is the club’s most effective partnership in Premier League history, with Bowen setting up 10 of Soucek’s league goals.
"However, their importance cannot be measured by goals alone. Bowen ran himself into the ground again but the captain still found the energy to set up Wilson. Soucek, meanwhile, is one of the least flashy players around, but never stops trying, is a presence in both areas and was in the right place to thwart Everton with two heroic clearances during the dying stages.
"Moyes was seething after losing on his first return to the club he led to Conference League glory in 2023. This was a damaging result for Everton’s hopes of European football. They were underwhelming for long spells, conceded two soft goals and were beaten in stoppage time for the second successive week."
In the Telegraph, Ivan Speck wrote:" It is never the West Ham United way to make things easy. After finally rousing themselves to take the lead in a game they surely had to win, Nuno Espírito Santo’s side first conceded a late Everton equaliser, having survived two earlier scares, and then finally clinched victory all over again with an injury-time Callum Wilson winner.
"With Tottenham Hotspur claiming their first league win of 2026 with victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers, Wilson’s late strike ensured West Ham remained above the relegation zone.
"Wilson’s goal owed everything to a fabulous Jarrod Bowen header into his path. The roar of relief around the London Stadium was as loud as any that this ground has heard in its oft-derided history.
"It followed a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall equaliser that climaxed a period of Everton pressure as they sought to recover from Tomas Soucek’s headed goal early in the second half. When an important moment arises, Soucek stands up with the best.
"Not content with his 51st-minute goal, the Czech midfielder then twice denied Everton an equaliser with clearances within the home six-yard area.
"Firstly a Tyrique George cross looked as though it would reach Thierno Barry for a simple tap-in until Soucek raced back to clear, falling as he did so. Then, even more startlingly, he headed a powerful Barry header from close range on to his own crossbar.
"Everton were denied parity a third time late on when referee Stuart Attwell and VAR somehow missed a blatant Mateus Fernandes handball before Dewsbury-Hall brought them level prior to Wilson’s crowning moment.
"It was all so different from a soporific first half. Whatever efforts on goal West Ham attempted landed in a sea of Everton blocks, leaving Jordan Pickford completely untroubled except for a low ball slid across his penalty area by Bowen in first-half injury-time.
"There was little sense of urgency from the home supporters either, although their attention was veering between events on the pitch in front of them to those at Molineux as news of Spurs’ game at Wolves filtered through. That was all forgotten in the end, though."
Gregor Robertson of The Times wrote: " From joy to despair and back again — it was that kind of afternoon at the London Stadium, and one imagines there will be more just like it in West Ham United’s bid to avoid the drop.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s 88th-minute equaliser for Everton came a matter of minutes after Joao Palhinha struck a winner for Tottenham Hotspur at Molineux, and it looked as though West Ham’s slender advantage over their North London rivals had been wiped out with four games to go. When the final whistle blew, however, it was greeted with the loudest roar the London Stadium has ever known and West Ham’s lead over Spurs remains two points in this engrossing battle at the bottom of the table.
"With the clock running into time added on, El Hadji Malick Diouf lifted a cross deep toward the back post, Jarrod Bowen strained every sinew to head the ball back across goal and Callum Wilson, a substitute, was on hand to lash in a crucial winner.
"Tomas Soucek’s 51st-minute header had given West Ham the lead and the midfielder produced two remarkable blocks to deny Everton, who are chasing Europe, before the late, late drama unfurled.
"David Moyes, the Everton manager, still has the chance to do his old club West Ham a favour, perhaps, when Everton visit Tottenham on the final day.
"West Ham flickered into life when Crysencio Summerville was in possession and the same was true for Everton whenever the ball was in the orbit of Iliman Ndiaye. Everton often took a no-nonsense approach to stopping the fleet-footed Summerville, and Jake O’Brien, James Tarkowski and James Garner were all booked for scything tackles on the West Ham winger.
"Everton were without the injured Beto, whose seven goals in 2026 have been struck at a rate of one every 81 minutes. His replacement, Thierno Barry, registered the only shot on target of the first half, but it was a daisy-cutter that Mads Hermansen, the West Ham goalkeeper, gathered with ease.
"After his goal, came two heroic pieces of defending by Soucek to keep West Ham ahead with a quarter of an hour remaining — first, recovering to cut out a Tim Iroegbunam cross destined to be tapped in by Barry inside the six-yard box, and then denying Barry again by diverting the Everton striker’s header onto the crossbar.
"Moyes was incensed when the VAR cleared a Mateus Fernandes handball in the penalty box, but Everton’s pressure was growing and, with two of the 90 minutes remaining, West Ham’s worst fears were realised when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall crashed Tarkowski’s knock down in to level. But Wilson – 10 minutes after stepping off the bench – smashed in the 92nd-minute winner to keep West Ham’s advantage intact."
And the ECHO’s Joe Thomas wrote: "Mateus Fernandes charged at Barry in the home box and in the process of wrapping his arms around the forward pushed the bouncing ball out of play with his hands.
"It was later confirmed that VAR checked the on-field decision and agreed Fernandes “accidentally handled the ball while grappling with an opponent”. The Blues were not even awarded a corner.
"It was a bizarre call over an incident Nuno Espirito Santo admitted had caused him to fear the worst. Like Dewsbury-Hall’s denied penalty appeal last week, it was a reminder of how the rules and the language they are written in can be bent and twisted to work against the Blues.
"Unfortunately, a questionable penalty call was not the only reminder of the blows suffered against Liverpool on a disappointing day in the capital."