West Ham put Everton to the sword with convincing 2-1 win as Hammers are Lampard's new bogey team

Frank Lampard yet again failed to bite the hand that fed him as a teenager as his Everton side succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at West Ham at London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

It was the ex-Chelsea legend and manager’s third defeat in four outings against the Hammers in his young managerial career and as many as in 21 years as a player.

With West Ham leading 2-1 thanks to goals by Aaron Cresswell and Jarrod Bowen, sandwiched by a temporary equaliser from Mason Holgate on 53 minutes, Michael Keane was sent off for a second bookable offence.

A goal and a man down, there was no way back for Everton in this game as West Ham moved up to fifth in the Premier League table ahead of their most important game in their history against Lyon in the first-leg of the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday.

Such was David Moyes’ confidence in his men that they would see out the game unscathed that he even granted a rare 20-minute cameo to iconic club legend Marc Noble, with the player officially bringing down the curtain on his career next month.

West Ham completed a double over the Toffees after the 1-0 win in the reverse fixture in October.

With only 10 minutes gone the dynamic Michail Antonio was presented with a good opportunity to fire West Ham ahead. The 32-year-old received the ball from Bowen before driving forward and cutting inside, yet his attempt was smothered by Keane’s left boot.

Jordan Pickford, his side’s standout performer today, did well to come off his line only two minutes later to keep Pablo Fornals at bay after the Spaniard was teed up by Said Benrahma.

With the result still locked at 0-0, Richarlison could have stunned the London Stadium but for a last-ditch decisive intervention by Ryan Fredericks, who denied the Brazilian an easy tap-in after skipping past Lukasz Fabianski in the box.

Shortly after the half-hour mark Cresswell then bent an exquisite free-kick over the wall and into the top corner to breathe life into a dull game and extraordinarily quiet stadium.

The West Ham supporters may have kept their best for the Europa League quarter-final first-leg against Olympique Lyon on Thursday in a repeat of the electric atmosphere which undeniably gave the players much-needed wings to overturn a 1-0 loss from the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.

Ex-Watford star Richarlison then nearly pounced on a second ball after Ryan Fredericks failed to clear his lines but his shot with the outside of his left boot swirled just over the top.

As half-time was approaching and with the game pretty much hanging in the balance, Antonio saw his weak effort form an awkward angle hit the side-netting.

West Ham were not overly entertaining in the first 45 minutes but ahead on merit as the Everton players lacked grit and tenacity while most players didn’t do enough to help the cause.

Five minutes after the restart, Calvert-Lewin, fed by Alex Iwob with a well-weighted pass after Declan Rice cheaply gave the ball away, came close to his first goal since August. But his venomous strike clipped the outside of the post.

Everton had a rare prolonged spell of possession and kept knocking on the door. And after improving their quality on the ball and increasing their tempo, the equaliser was just a matter of time.

And the Toffees eventually unlocked West Ham’s defence through Mason Holgate, who fortuitously found the far corner with a sweetly struck volley after a decisive deflection off Fornals’ foot on 53 minutes.

But merely five minutes later, Bowen tapped home West Ham’s winner, by converting a rebound after Pickford denied Antonio with his boot.

Minutes later and to the despair of Lampard, Keane’s name was taken for a second time after a foul on Antonio.

But this time Cresswell couldn’t repeat his first-half feats, sending his free-kick just wide.

If on one hand this was job done in style for West Ham at a crucial moment before their Europa League showdown against Ligue 1 giants Lyon in four days, things look desperate for the Toffees who may now have to rely on Watford and Burnley taking fewer points than them to avoid a first relegation since 1951.