A general exterior aerial view of the Hill Dickinson Stadium ahead of the Premier League match between Everton and West Ham United on September 29, 2025(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)

Everton’s new home on the Mersey waterfront provides a better experience than Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. That’s the verdict of West Ham United fans who attended the first Premier League night game at Hill Dickinson Stadium last month.

The Hammers quit the Boleyn Ground, their home for the previous 112 years in 2016 to move into London Stadium, which had been converted after it was the showpiece venue for the 2012 Olympics, but still left spectators far away from the on-pitch action.

East Ender Tony Cottee, born in Forest Gate, just a mile from Upton Park, played for West Ham either side of his six-year spell with Everton between 1988-94, and although he’s still waiting to go to his first match at Hill Dickinson Stadium having attended the Blues’ Goodison Park farewell against Southampton on May 18, a group of his friends provided him with a glowing report.