"David Unsworth will remain in charge of the Blues for tonight's Premier League match against West Ham United at Goodison Park".

Everton are set to appoint Sam Allardyce as their new manager following progress in talks on Tuesday, according to Sky sources.

The former Sunderland and Crystal Palace manager has a proven track record at avoiding relegation but is likely to need a few new signings in order to pull it off.

Everton said in a statement: "Sam Allardyce will be at USM Finch Farm this afternoon to finalise terms on becoming the new manager of Everton Football Club".

"These people have always made me aware of just how special and unique a club Everton is and I feel really enthused and energised to come in as manager".

At the time, Everton were chucking increasingly silly amounts of money at Watford in the vain hope of luring Marco Silva to Merseyside, with Allardyce withdrawing his application after tiring of the dilly-dallying.

Allardyce returns to club management six months after resigning from Crystal Palace, having saved the London side from relegation.

Everton announced on Wednesday that Allardyce, who sat beside Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri during the 4-0 win against West Ham United, was finalising a move to Goodison Park. But his seven-game tenure has been little short of disastrous, with Everton losing five games and winning just one.

And Allardyce revealed that two major reasons convinced him to join the club: the first of which being the attraction of the club.

Koeman's problem was they collectively failed to fire, Everton could barely scrounge a point and optimism turned to anger faster than anyone had anticipated.

MAY 23, 2017: Allardyce unexpectedly announces his departure from Palace - five months to the day since his appointment - saying he has "no ambitions" to take another job.