Everton ready for a blue coup

MUTINOUS mutterings are sweeping Merseyside. Whisper it quietly, but Everton — so used to being downtrodden by brutish neighbours — have the scent of revolution thick in their nostrils.

It may not yet be Christmas, but the Merseysiders are already building the sort of momentum which could unseat an unwary member of the Premier League’s big four. This victory hoisted them level with Liverpool in joint fifth place and their followers departed Upton Park with the sort of arrogant strut more commonly seen across Stanley Park.

David Moyes may need more convincing. A 12-match unbeaten run and a place in the top six should have been enough for the Everton manager to talk up his worthy team ahead of next week’s intriguing trip to Manchester United but the Scot evidently knows his place.

He dismissed talk of Old Trafford being an acid test of his side’s credentials — “We’re talking about the champions, here,” he said, rather meekly — and preferred to focus on the implications of beating West Ham twice in a week.

Moyes’ attitude is more pragmatic than defeatist. As the last manager to successfully gatecrash English football’s established Big Four, when he led Everton to fourth place in 2005, he knows how irksome the task can prove. Yet if there is a potential rival to the established elite, Everton’s credentials appear impeccable.

Their traditional solidity is now laced with a bucketload of guile. Mikael Arteta, the canny Spaniard, prompts and probes remorselessly while Tim Cahill’s lung-bursting forward forays ensure that Moyes’ preferred 4-5-1 formation is never allowed to become too stodgy.

With the bullish Yakubu, who scored his seventh goal in five games on Saturday, and impish Andrew Johnson providing options up front, Moyes has a genuinely multi-dimensional squad. Given a place in the Carling Cup semi-finals and the last 16 of the Uefa Cup is already assured, their ambitions this season should stretch to more than a top-six finish.

“We certainly have the squad to cope,” Phil Neville, the captain, said. “I think that’s what is driving this squad on, the competition for places within the club. You can’t afford to get injured and you can’t afford to have an off-day.

“The quality we keep producing bodes well for the rest of the season. If, after Christmas, we are still in touch with the top four then we can really attack the season.” Everton are also developing an invaluable habit of digging points out of the most inhospitable environments. This was a barren, lifeless contest — enlivened only by the subtle skills of West Ham’s Nolberto Solano — when the visitors stole an audacious lead in first-half stoppage time. Arteta’s cross-field pass picked out Cahill at the back post and his header back across goal was nodded in by the prolific Yakubu.

It was the worst-case scenario for West Ham. Once Everton’s jaws are clamped around an advantage, heavy-duty equipment is needed to prise them open. They controlled the second half, almost extended their lead through Leon Osman and eventually killed off their hosts in the final moments when Johnson capitalised on Matthew Upson’s sloppy header to lob over Robert Green.

Not for the first time this season, West Ham were booed off by their frost-bitten fans and Curbishley’s insistence on blaming his side’s wildly inconsistent form on injuries will not earn him much sympathy. A club that has spent €70million on new signings in the last 12 months should be expected to cope with such inconveniences.

WEST HAM (4-4-2): Green 5, Neill 5, Collins 5, Upson 6, McCartney 5, Solano 7 (Noble 59, 5), Parker 7, Mullins (Reid 79), Cole 6 (Camara 46, 4), Ashton 5, Ljungberg 5.

Subs Not Used: Wright, Spector.

EVERTON (4-14-1): Howard 7, Neville 6, Yobo 8, Jagielka 7, Lescott 7, Carsley 6, Arteta 7, Osman 6, Cahill 7, Pienaar 7, Yakubu 7 (Johnson 86, 7).

Subs Not Used: Wessels, Hibbert, Gravesen, McFadden.

REFEREE: Steve Tanner (Somerset) 6: Overly-fussy on occasion, but there were no major incidents to provoke controversy.

MATCH RATING: ** It wasn’t just the weather that left fans cold at Upton Park: this was humdrum stuff although Everton’s durability cannot be doubted.