Filed under: Everton, West Brom, Premier League, Football, Match Reports
Youssouf Mulumbu's seventh goal of the season enhanced West Brom's hopes of a top-ten finish and provided a major opportunity to finish top dogs in the West Midlands.Mulumbu's early strike was enough to condemn a lacklustre Everton to a seventh away defeat of the season, with the visitors also having substitute Diniyar Bilyaletdinov dismissed for a dangerous challenge on James Morrison.
It was only the first clean sheet Albion had secured under Roy Hodgson and an ideal way to end a season in which they have secured safety with something to spare.
Everton, meanwhile, cannot wait for the season to end and produced a first-half performance so pedestrian they could have been wearing flip-flops instead of football boots.
Albion had fired an early warning when Peter Odemwingie drove wide after eight minutes but were ahead shortly after through Mulumbu, one of the most under-rated performers in the Premier League.
Sylvain Distin was easily pushed aside by Odemwingie and the Albion forward presented Mulumbu with the simplest of finishes from four yards out.
Everton also required Tony Hibbert to hack Jerome Thomas's shot off the line before Tim Howard denied Odemwingie as the hosts dominated.
The visitors did improve in the second period, perhaps due to manager David Moyes spending most of the opening 45 minutes prowling the touchline with menace, but their form on the road remains a concern.
But their frustrating afternoon was complete when Bilyaletdinov was given a straight red card for a crude lunge on Morrison a mere five minutes after his introduction.
REACTION
Albion manager Hodgson paid tribute to Sporting & Technical Director Dan Ashworth for discovering match-winner Mulumbu:
"Dan Ashworth has to take the credit for finding Mulumbu. He was here before I got to the club, but the club have got it right with the signing of him and others like Odemwingie.
"To talk about bringing in other players now would be disrespectful. All the credit for staying up should go to the players who are at the club now and who have done all the hard work."
On a fifth victory in nine games:
"Both teams deserve credit for not taking the game easily. Certainly Everton put us under the cosh on numerous occasions.
"We had to fight hard to keep our clean sheet. Scott Carson made one excellent save and there were lots of blocks from defenders. We created a fair few chances and it is strange that the scoreline ended like that when you consider how many chances we created.
"Both teams epitomised the integrity and honesty of the Premier League. No one, but no one knocks off before the final whistle in this league. The clean sheet gives us satisfaction, even more so as it means three points. We lived dangerously at times."
On the club's hunt for new players this summer:
"I have had meetings with the chairman. I talk too much, that is my problem. People are working hard behind the scenes. Dan Ashworth and the chairman and other members of the coaching staff are trying to put together a squad that will keep us in the Premier Legaue next season.
"But it is not the right time to talk about signing players. We have had an excellent season and it would be demeaning of me to talk about that at the time. The players who are here and have worked hard deserve all the credit."
On the no-show from Moyes:
"David was shooting off. I think he had somewhere to go. He does not like to lose in the same way I do not like to lose. So taking that into consideration he was in remarkably good mood under the circumstances. He was fine."
Everton manager Moyes refused to do any press interviews after the game. But captain Phil Neville tweeted: "This was the story of R season, good and in control but no real cutting edge up top. One game to go, got to finish on a high.'
WHAT IT MEANS:
Who could have envisaged West Brom finishing above Aston Villa, Birmingham and Wolves this season? But that prospect edged ever nearer after this deserved victory.
Hodgson has at least ensured that what had initially been a tortuous campaign, during his doomed spell at Liverpool, has finished with a flourish and he now has the chance to establish some building blocks and ensure this well-run club can progress.
Everton may have had nothing to play for but Moyes's decision to blank the press proved that actions speak louder than words. He had fidgeted with fury at his players for most of the game and it is believed much of his anger centred on the performance of referee Taylor.
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