- Mark Noble urges teammates to end decade-long run without a home league win over Everton
- West Ham United have not beaten Toffees in east London in top-flight since April 2007
- Suspended captain Noble says victory on Saturday would make Hammers all but safe
Mark Noble has urged his teammates to embrace the spirit of the Great Escape when West Ham United host Everton on Saturday.
The Hammers have not beaten the Blues on home turf in the Premier League since 21 April 2007, when Bobby Zamora’s wondergoal helped West Ham to a vital 1-0 win on their way to miraculously beating the drop.
Ten years on and the east Londoners welcome the Merseysiders to London Stadium without seven senior players, including captain Noble, through injury and suspension, but the skipper is not taking that for an excuse for another defeat to the Toffees.
"I was told that it was ten years ago this week that we last beat the Blues at home in the Premier League, 1-0 in a game I remember well because Bobby Zamora whipped in a fantastic goal on our way to pulling off the Great Escape!” he recalled in his exclusive column for Saturday’s Official Programme.
“While we are not in immediate danger this season, we do need to pick up a positive result this weekend if we are going to ensure our Premier League place for next season.
“If we can get the win, we will get to the 40-point mark and also be in mid-table which, when you consider all the challenges we have faced this season, not only as a team but as a Club, that’s not a bad position to be in.”
While we are not in immediate danger this season, we do need to pick up a positive result this weekend if we are going to ensure our Premier League place for next season
Mark Noble
Noble knows his teammates, including the returning Winston Reid, will need to be at their best to stop Everton and their regular West Ham nemesis Romelu Lukaku, who has scored in nine straight appearances against the Hammers.
But Everton are not the same force away from Goodison Park as they are on home turf, as the midfielder pointed out, and he believes a lively London Stadium atmosphere could help the hosts end their unwanted recent record against both Lukaku and the Blues.
“It’s going to be tough, because Everton are having a fantastic season,” observed the No16, who is completing a two-match ban for receiving ten yellow cards. “They are a force at home at Goodison Park, where they have only lost once and have picked up 40 of their 57 points, but they are not quite so good on the road.
“We need to take advantage of that and recreate the performance we put in against Swansea City a fortnight ago, when we created more than enough chances to win far more comfortably than we did in the end.
“The atmosphere that afternoon was brilliant and, for me, was what the traditional West Ham United is all about – everyone pulling together when our backs are against the wall and coming out with the right result on the other side.
“It was a massive game and the atmosphere you created was incredible.”