On their day of reckoning, West Ham United did their job but as they cast their eyes six miles up the road to North London, the unhappy Hammers will have seen that any faith they’d held in Everton holding up their end of the proverbial bargain to help keep them up had been badly misplaced.
Most Evertonians could have told them as much in the days leading up to the final day of a 2025/26 season which has held so much promise at times for the Blues but which came to a sorry end this afternoon with a fourth defeat in six that left the club languishing in the rank mediocrity of 13th place.
A side almost completely unchanged from the one that has squandered a golden opportunity to qualify for Europe toiled through a familiarly unproductive first half, yet again conceded from a corner in the meekest of manners and failed to muster a single shot on target until deep into second-half stoppage time.
It was as pathetic as this supposed late charge for the top eight has been since the destruction of Chelsea at Bramley-Moore Dock in March, a period in which David Moyes’s side have been in relegation form. In their place, Sunderland, a club who were in League One as recently as 2022 and who only came up from the second tier a year ago, will join Bournemouth in the Europa League next term.
Last weekend’s sorry capitulation to the Black Cats by the docks had brought Moyes’s future into sharp focus and, just like that 3-1 reverse, this game threw up ample pretext for ditching the current manager this summer, despite CEO Angus Kinnear’s assertion that the hierarchy are “happily dissatisfied” with the club’s “progress” under the 63-year-old:
The decision to drop the Toffees’ top scorer, Beto; Everton’s lethargic start to the contest; the concession of the game’s only goal to a poorly-defended corner; the lack of any patterns of play or identifiable plan to score; and the fact that the only effort on target in the entire 90 minutes came from Tyrique George, a player to whom Moyes has steadfastly refused to give enough minutes to make a difference.
In the end, Tottenham just needed to score once to complete the double over Everton for the season and ensure their Premier League status despite the Hammers' 3-0 victory over Leeds. Spurs's supporters had, no doubt, approached the day with fear and trepidation but their opponents made life very easy for them for 90 minutes before belatedly turning up in injury time for a too-little-too-late attempt at at least rescuing a point.
Spurs dominated possession and went close to making an early breakthrough when Conor Gallagher smashed a shot into the side-netting after Everton couldn’t clear a set-piece. Kevin Danso lashed wide shortly afterwards as, again, the visiting defence failed to clear their lines.
Indeed, much of what Everton did was insipid and careless, with the likes of Tim Iroegbunam, Merlin Rohl, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Iliman Ndiaye guilty of sloppy use and retention of the ball, although the Senegalese did go on one trademark mazy run, only to see his shot charged down and diverted behind.
Meanwhile, the hosts kept probing and Joao Palhinha sliced a good chance over at the back post, Jordan Pickford had to punch away Djed Spence’s dangerous cross while, later, Danso could only head into his team-mate Richarlison from a decent position.
The decisive moment eventually arrived from yet another corner, though. Palhinha was allowed to rise unimpeded at the back post where he thumped a header off the woodwork but was alive to the rebound which he steered through a clutch of static blue shirts and over the line.
That the second period was such a non-event given the potential for drama that West Ham’s increasing lead was creating at the London Stadium was a damning indictment of how badly Moyes’s Everton have fallen away in the final seven games of the season.
Jordan Pickford spilled a Spence shot awkwardly behind shortly after half-time and nothing of any note happened until Moyes turned to his bench to introduce George together with Harrison Armstrong for Röhl and Jake O’Brien and Dewsbury-Hall won a corner in the 67th minute that, typically, came to nothing.
It wasn’t until the 86th minute that Everton seriously threatened Antonin Kinsky’s goal when Charly Alcaraz, belatedly introduced for Dewsbury-Hall a couple of minutes earlier, pushed into the box and Michael Keane's clever flick played George in but Micky van Der Ven did well to snuff out the chance before the final pass could reach Beto.
As the match ticked into nine minutes of added time, Keane flashed a header over the bar, Alcaraz narrowly missed with a header of his own before George forced an excellent save from Kinsky with the last chance.
With Fulham beating Newcastle at Craven Cottage, Everton’s 15th defeat of the campaign means that they finish exactly where they did last year — 13th and only one point better off despite having spent £140m last summer and all the optimism that the team’s record had engendered heading into the last international break.
All the good will and currency that Moyes had built for steering the club to the brink of European qualification has now largely been frittered away by an alarmingly languorous and characterless run-in to the season and it leaves supporters questioning Everton’s direction under a manager who has seemingly lacked any answers to arrest the slide.
At the moment, it’s hard to escape the feeling that it all portends yet more frustration and stagnation and not the new era that was promised when The Friedkin Group took the reins.
Kinnear’s eye on “stability” and his public backing of Moyes mean that the Scot’s position is probably safe but it is going to be another hugely important summer for the Blues regardless of who is in charge come the kick-off to 2026/27.