Premier League Match-Day 37 West Ham vs Everton

The match between West Ham United and Everton at the Boleyn Ground brings together two sides vying for a European berth via the Barclays Premier League Fair Play standings.

England, along with the Netherlands and Ireland, have been awarded an additional UEFA Europa League place for next season, with West Ham leading the list of eligible clubs ahead of Everton and Burnley.

Everton, who are 11th and three points behind West Ham in the BPL, have found it difficult to balance their domestic and continental aspirations in 2014/15, and captain Phil Jagielka has mixed feelings about the prospect of another Europa League campaign.

"It's a difficult one," he told Everton TV http://www.evertonfc.com/news/2015/05/14/jagielka-no-fair-play-distraction. "We always want to finish as high as possible in the league and we want to finish in Europe.

"Europe has been good for us and bad for us this season. It's been a double-edged sword - we've played some really good football but it has affected us in the league.

"With some of the journeys we have had and the fixture list afterwards, it seems like we have had an away European game followed by another away Premier League game. But if we are in the [Europa League] competition - and it is a competition we can do well in - we will be happy to play in it.”

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce would welcome the challenge of European football.

"Once they [the players] get over the fact that it means coming back a bit earlier I'm sure they'll relish it," he said. "It's a new competition for most of our players and it gives our players who haven't played as much as they would've liked an opportunity to play.

"It also gives a new opportunity for our younger players coming through. It would be a very long season, starting on July 2 and we'll finish two weeks later than normal. It'll be an extremely difficult challenge but one we'll be happy to take on."

Everton's Leighton Baines has been ruled out of the last two matches of the season after ankle surgery, while Darron Gibson (foot), Tony Hibbert (knee), Bryan Oviedo (foot) and Steven Pienaar (muscle) remain sidelined.

West Ham also have their fair share of injury problems, with defender James Tomkins (shoulder) hoping to return in time for the final game of the season at Newcastle United.

West Ham (from): Adrian, Jaaskelainen, Spiegel, Burke, Collins, Cresswell, Jenkinson, O'Brien, Oxford. Potts, Reid, Amalfitano, Downing, Jarvis, Kouyate, Lletget, Noble, Nolan, Poyet, Song, Cole, Nene, Valencia.

Everton (from): Griffiths, Howard, Joel, Stanek, Alcaraz, Browning, Coleman, Distin, Garbutt, Jagielka, Stones, Atsu, Barkley, Barry, Besic, Lennon, McCarthy, McGeady, Osman, Kone, Long, Lukaku, Mirallas, Naismith.

Match Appointments
Referee: Kevin Friend Assistants: E Smart, R West Fourth Official: A Marriner

Match Facts
Romelu Lukaku has scored in each of his five appearances in all competitions for Everton against West Ham United. He has netted 41 Barclays Premier League goals overall, the joint-highest of any Belgian player, along with Aston Villa's Christian Benteke.
No BPL side has scored more goals via defenders than Everton (10) this season; more than twice as many as West Ham (four).
The Toffees have dropped more points from leading positions than any other team this season (19).
Aaron Cresswell is the only Hammer to have played every minute of every West Ham match in the league this campaign.