Everton play host to West Ham at Goodison Park on Wednesday night.
Everton play host to the east Londoners at Goodison Park in the Premier League, in what is increasingly likely to be interim manager David Unsworth’s last game in charge as the Toffees are set to appoint Allardyce as Ronald Koeman’s successor.
Sky Sports claim 63-year-old manager Allardyce is likely to be announced as the new manager of the Merseyside club after a breakthrough in talks, despite the former England boss publicly stating earlier this month that talks had broken down.
Cottee believes Everton will gain all three points on Merseyside if the club can announce his arrival prior to the match, but believes that if they are unable to do just that, then West Ham will emerge victorious.
“I think it’s quite simple”, Cottee said. “If Everton can announce the appointment of Big Sam and Big Sam is around the club tonight in some form or other then I think we will see a reaction from the Everton players.
“If nothing is announced today, going on from what I saw on the weekend, then there can only be one winner and that would be West Ham. If Everton don’t make an announcement I just see West Ham winning the game.”
Everton are yet to appoint a manager to fill the managerial void on a permanent basis following the sacking of Koeman last month, with Unsworth taking charge since the Dutchman’s dismissal.
However, Unsworth has failed to make an impact, losing five of his seven games in charge as the Merseyside outfit suffered defeats to Chelsea, Leicester City, Lyon, Atalanta and Southampton.
It has effectively ruled the former Everton left-back out of taking the job outright, but he will be desperate for his players to earn just a second win in his short reign in order to re-establish some pride.
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