Callum Wilson came off the bench to score in stoppage time as West Ham edged Everton 2-1 at the London Stadium and held a two-point cushion above the relegation zone.
The game turned early in the second half when Tomas Soucek headed West Ham ahead six minutes after the restart, meeting Jarrod Bowen's corner in the 51st minute. Soucek was making his 200th Premier League start for the club.
Everton looked to have rescued a point when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall levelled with two minutes of normal time remaining, the 88th-minute strike cancelling out West Ham's lead and leaving the contest poised.
West Ham introduced Callum Wilson in the 81st minute and he delivered the decisive moment in stoppage time, completing a 2-1 turnaround. Wilson has now scored nine goals in his past eight appearances against Everton.
The victory left West Ham two points clear of the relegation zone. Tottenham were also winning their game against Wolverhampton Wanderers while the match at the London Stadium was in progress, and the status of West Ham's advantage swung several times during the afternoon: at 16:09, when Soucek opened the scoring, West Ham were four points clear of Tottenham; by 16:42, after Tottenham had taken the lead at Molineux, West Ham led Spurs by two points; at 16:46, after Everton's equaliser, West Ham sat level on points with Tottenham; and at 16:50, when Wilson struck, West Ham were two points ahead again.
The numbers underline how precarious the situation remains. A single stoppage-time goal flipped the club's immediate prospects, and the margin for error is thin in a relegation battle that involves Tottenham, Leeds and Nottingham Forest as well as West Ham.
Manager Nuno Espírito Santo framed the result as evidence of resilience, saying it showed character and made the squad proud. He urged his players to be proactive — the next move, he said, was to play forward and get a goal — and reminded supporters that the season has not been normal, stressing that everyone bears responsibility and that there are effectively four finals remaining in the league that the team must treat as such.
Those four fixtures are already lined up on West Ham's calendar: Brentford away, Arsenal at home, Newcastle away and Leeds away. Each result from here on will carry amplified significance after a day in which a late substitute decided the difference between safety and renewed anxiety.
For Everton, the late defeat will be a bitter blow after the momentum of the equaliser. For West Ham, the win buys breathing room but not comfort: the table is tight and Tottenham's simultaneous victory ensured that margins shifted repeatedly over the course of the match.
Conclusion: the victory is vital and morale-boosting, but it is not definitive — West Ham have earned temporary relief and now face four matches that will determine whether this was a turning point or merely a temporary stay of execution.
