Before the start of the season, many pundits and fans tipped West Ham to enjoy a solid campaign after appointing Premier League winner Manuel Pellegrini as David Moyes’ successor.
He’s spent north of £100 million on new players, but it hasn’t quite gone to plan for the Chilean manager.
Five games into his reign and his only victory came in the second round of the Carabao Cup, when the Londoners came from behind to beat 10 man AFC Wimbledon 3-1.
But their start in the league couldn’t have been worse. A 4-0 demolition at the hands of Liverpool was followed by a 2-1 reverse at home to Bournemouth, Arsenal breezed past the Hammers 3-1 next, before Wolves condemned them to their fourth loss in a many league games.
The Blues are unbeaten under their new boss Marco Silva, and could easily have maximum points, but instead the Portuguese’s side boast a record of one win and three draws.
Huddersfield came to Goodison before the international break with a game plan to frustrate Everton and utilise set pieces and they did just that.
Despite Pelligrini insisting he won’t change his style of play, it would be tactical suicide from a West Ham point of view to not take a page out of the Terriers’ book for the L4 clash.
Recent times have seen Everton enjoy facing the Hammers, only losing three matches against Sunday’s opponents in the last 11 years.
But the most recent of those defeats came in Sam Allardyce’s last game as the Toffees’ chief.
An uninspiring 3-1 loss at the London Stadium, so Silva will be keen to eradicate any bad memories of the previous regime and stamp his authority this time around.
One to watch
Marco Arnautovic seems to be the only West Ham player who has given it a go this term, but the Austrian can’t do it all by himself.
He has bagged two goals in four games so far and has deputised as captain in Mark Noble’s absence – a role in which he seems to thrive on.
At 6ft4, Arnautovic could be key in exploiting Everton’s susceptibility from crossing positions.
Team news
Yerry Mina has finally started training after signing last month but a decision is yet to be made as to whether or not the Colombian centre half will be ready for his Everton debut this weekend.
Bernard, Theo Walcott, Idrissa Gueye and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have all been training after injury scares and are expected to be fit for the game.
Seamus Coleman, Phil Jagielka, Andre Gomes and Richarlison are unavailable.
Man in the middle
Martin Atkinson will take the whistle for this one, in just four games this season he has already shown 11 yellow cards.