West Ham’s impressive run in the league came to an end after a 2-1 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park.

Defender James Collins was especially aggrieved with the nature of the defeat since it felt that West Ham played much better than to deserve only a defeat. This was the first defeat for the hammers since the 2-1 loss against Manchester United at the end of September. This impressive form has seen them however around the top four even as the season approaches Christmas. The future looked bleak under Sam Allardyce 12 months ago, but there has been a complete transformation from West Ham.

Collins has missed only a couple of matches for the hammers this season. The 31-year-old has been a major influence in the defensive record of team, which still is excellent despite the clear emphasis on attacking football. Despite this defeat, the Welshman says that West Ham will be going into the home match against Newcastle looking for three points once again. Since Newcastle do not have a great record when visiting London, West Ham will be looking to take advantage. Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring against West Ham while summer signing Zarate equalised in the second half. Veteran Leon Osman scored the winning goal in the 73rd minute.

“There’s still bitter disappointment about Everton. We didn’t perform like we can do – there were a lot of injuries which we shouldn’t use as an excuse but we weren’t too happy with the way we performed.We do think we could have got something out of the game though. I had a chance at 2-1 which maybe I should have stuck away but we’re still full of confidence,” said Collins. The Welshman has been a regular especially in the last few months after coming back from the suspension given after the Tottenham match.