Cottee warns West Ham of Calvert-Lewin and two Everton stars who ‘can hurt teams’

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Tony Cottee has warned West Ham United’s club website that they ‘can’t afford to switch off’ against Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and James Rodriguez when David Moyes’ side hosts Everton on Sunday.

The weekend’s meeting at the London Stadium is a near-must win fixture for both team’s hopes of qualifying for a European tournament, with the Hammers trailing fourth-placed Chelsea by three points and the Toffees eighth in the standings.

West Ham won the reverse fixture at Goodison Park 1-0 for their first Premier League victory over the Merseyside outfit in four encounters, but have failed to avoid defeat on home soil since May 2018.

Cottee believes Moyes will have to work his system to limit the chances afford to the likes of Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Rodriguez this weekend if he is to do the double over the Blues, as the trio represent their greatest weapons.

“In Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and James Rodríguez, they’ve got such purposeful attackers who can hurt teams and we’ve got to really be on our game today, because you can’t afford to switch off for a single moment in the Premier League,” he said.

Everton only named Rodriguez on the bench for January’s meeting while Calvert-Lewin was enduring his longest goal drought of the season so far, having failed to find the back of the net in any of his previous four appearances – a run that would stretch to seven.

Calvert-Lewin has since rediscovered his scoring boots to take his tally for the term to 15 (20 in all competitions), while Richarlison has four goals in his last 11 league games and Rodriguez has offered a goal and an assist in his last four outings.

TBR’s view:

Calvert-Lewin is a natural concern for West Ham ahead of hosting Everton with the England international the Toffees’ top-scorer, while Rodriguez will pose an issue having offered the joint-most assists in all competitions with Gylfi Sigurdsson (9).

But they, plus Richarlison, will not be the only ones Moyes will have to consider ahead of Sunday’s clash, as Lucas Digne is also Everton’s lead playmaker in the Premier League after taking his tally to seven by assisting Calvert-Lewin against Aston Villa last time out.

What Moyes will hope sees West Ham triumph is that only Manchester City (38) have taken more points at home (31) this season, although Everton have been a much stronger side on the road than at home, with only Pep Guardiola’s leaders (42), Manchester United (37) and Leicester (35) taking more points (33).