Everton vs West Ham - Player ratings

West Ham United were always going to put up a tough battle, one I'm glad we fought through and overcame. We showed some real bottle on Saturday and I don't condone players pushing and shoving each other but it was great to see the lads sticking up for each other and having a bit of bite and aggression to their play, something I feel we've missed so far this year.

Tim Howard- 8 - Tim doesn't do a lot wrong in any games and he didn't against West Ham. He was strong and made a couple of good saves when the game was in the balance. If I'm being slightly critical, I felt his positioning for their goal wasn't what he wanted, he was slightly to advanced when he didn't need to be, but that's being critical. Tim had another strong showing on the whole.

Seamus Coleman- 8 - Nothing to complain about with Seamus and there rarely is! He was once again comfortable on the ball and took us forward with Naismith making runs in front of him.

Phil Jagielka- 7.5 - Jags had an all round good game but I've marked him down for their goal as I feel when the ball was played into Zarate who scored their goal, Jagielka could have been a lot tighter on his marking, this preventing the shot. However, saying that, he did assist in keeping Andy Carroll quiet all game.

Sylvain Distin - 7.5 - again I feel his marking could have been better and a lot tighter. Distin does look like he his coming back into some form though which is a big positive. The French centre back quelled Carroll's aerial threat for the full match and gave him little chance of scoring.

Tony Hibbert- 7.5 - Not a bad performance from Hibbert in his out of position showing at left back. Personally, I'd liked to have seen Luke Garbutt over Hibbert, but Tony didn't do much wrong to be fair. Made a couple of crunching tackles and kept his position well.

Leon Osman- 8.5 - Ossie has had a few fans grumbling over the last month and I feel with his goal against Lille and a very crucial goal yesterday in his 400th appearance in an Everton shirt. Osman ran his legs off and he was a lot quicker on the ball which is something I've been critical of so far this season. He helped move us forward and covered Gareth Barry's position well.

James McCarthy- 9 - The instigator isn't a name you'd associate with McCarthy when it comes to clashes between players, however, after yesterday I couldn't think of a more apt name! After a heavy challenge on West Ham's Morgan Amalfitano, he picked himself up of the floor and went on to come face to face with a couple of West Ham players who didn't like his tackle. It's great to see that aggression in him as he comes across as a pretty quiet character but one that gets through his work. Yesterday he contributed excellently and took pressure, that might otherwise have been on Osman.

Ross Barkley- 7 - Some may think I'm being harsh with scoring Barkley down as a 7, but yesterday might have been one of Ross' worst games in an Everton shirt today. I felt he lost the ball a few to many times and his passing took a dip. I also can't tell you my disappointment and embarrassment as a fan to see Ross throwing himself to the floor having not been touched by Kevin Nolan, we don't need that in our team and he doesn't need that in his game. I'm hoping to see a reaction from Barkley on Thursday.

Steven Naismith- 8.5 - A top performance from Naismith. I thought he gave everything and ran all day down his wing. His effort as for a couple of other players, is unquestionable. Although he didn't score on this occasion he created lots of space for Lukaku throughout the match.

Kevin Mirallas- 8 - Kevin had a good performance on his return to the side. The Belgian added pace down the left wing which is certainly something we missed against the likes of Sunderland. He added another dimension to our attack gave opportunities going forward.

Romelu Lukaku- 8.5- Rom looked a lot more comfortable yesterday and was relaxed confident. I think the passed few weeks he may having been trying to hard, but he let himself run our attack and got a goal for his efforts.

Samuel Eto'o- Sub - I don't usually make judgments on subs unless they came on in the first half of a game. However, Sammy really added brilliantly to our attack and broke the West Ham defence down with a bit of pace and know how through the middle. He assisted Osman for our winning goal which was testament to his effort when he came on.

Muhamed Besic and Christian Atsu also appeared as late substitutes.