Callum Wilson grabbed a priceless stoppage-time winner as West Ham kept their heads above the relegation zone with a 2-1 victory over Everton.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s late equaliser, which cancelled out Tomas Soucek’s header, looked to have swung the survival battle Tottenham’s way moments after they had taken the lead at Wolves.
It was a goal which briefly dropped West Ham below Spurs and back into the bottom three.
But substitute Wilson, who had scored eight goals in his previous seven appearances against Everton, struck two minutes into time added on to keep the Hammers two places above their London rivals.
It was a hammer blow for David Moyes, making his first return to the London Stadium since he left two summers ago and on his 63rd birthday.
The reunion brought up his 750th match as a Premier League boss, but their bid to qualify for Europe took a dent with a dramatic late defeat.
West Ham’s opening goal came shortly after the restart following a low-key first half, when Soucek headed in a Jarrod Bowen corner.
It was a goal straight out of the Moyes playbook, the Scot having signed both for the Hammers back in 2020.
Yet Crysencio Summerville was the match’s most likely code-breaker, and when his cross found Taty Castellanos the Argentinian striker brought the ball down only for Toffees goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to come out and bravely block his shot.
A nonsensical VAR check for a penalty came and went, but from the corner West Ham made the breakthrough.
Bowen swung in the cross and Soucek, on his 200th Premier League start, got up highest to nod in his 44th goal for the club.
When Everton threatened an equaliser it was Czech midfielder Soucek – who Moyes tried to sign last January when he moved back to Everton – who somehow cleared Thierno Barry’s header via the crossbar.
There was controversy when Mateus Fernandes grappled with Barry in the area and swatted the ball away with his hand, but no penalty was awarded.
But just as news of Tottenham’s goal at Wolves began to filter through, Everton equalised.
Vitalii Mykolenko crossed, James Tarkowski headed the ball down and Dewsbury-Hall lashed it high into the net.
However, West Ham are not yet finished in this relegation battle and when Bowen knocked down El Hadji Malick Diouf’s cross, Wilson was on hand to guide home the winner and spark wild scenes of celebration.
