Alphonse Areola’s heroics and second-half goals from Kurt Zouma, Tomas Soucek and Edson Alvarez combined to secure West Ham United a superb come-from-behind 3-1 Premier League victory at Everton on Saturday.

The Irons could have been heading to a fourth defeat in five top-flight matches when Beto, who had seen his spot-kick saved by Areola moments before half-time, headed the home side in front eleven minutes after the break.

But former Everton loanee Zouma rose highest to head in James Ward-Prowse’s corner just six minutes later to score his second goal of the season. And Soucek silenced Goodison Park with a sensational finish one minute into added-time before Alvarez emptied the famous old stadium – the jubilant 3,000-strong Claret and Blue Army aside – by converting a superb counter-attack.

A sixth away win of the season took David Moyes’ side through the 40-point barrier back up to seventh place in the table. There was little sign of the drama to come in the opening 40-odd minutes, when West Ham played some eye-catching football at times, but rarely looking like breaching Jordan Pickford’s goal.

While Moyes’ men had sprung out of the blocks at home to Brentford in their previous match, scoring twice inside the opening seven minutes, this time they made a more reserved start, albeit Álvarez tested Pickford with a well-struck right-footer inside the opening 20 minutes.

It was the combination play between Paqueta and Emerson that looked most likely to open up the Everton defence, while Mohammed Kudus’s strong running forced a corner that Dinos Mavropanos headed past the far post.