Everton 1-1 West Ham
by James Nalton
at Bramley-Moore Dock

WHEN Everton took the lead in the first half of their game against West Ham United on Monday night, the previous version of this Hammers side may well have crumpled and conceded again, but there was a glimpse of potential improvement under their new manager as they came back to level the scores and return to London with a point.

This was the first West Ham game since Graham Potter’s sacking on Saturday morning.

New manager Nuno Espirito Santo looks to have already begun the process of making his new team more difficult to beat.

Everton, meanwhile, buoyed by their new home in Bramley-Moore Dock on the banks of the River Mersey, were not just looking to retain their early unbeaten record here, but were pushing for another win.

It made for an entertaining game in which both teams pushed for more than the draw that played out.

There were all too familiar problems up front for David Moyes’s side. They look like they have plenty of ideas in the middle of the park, driven by the trident of creativity that is Jack Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, and Iliman Ndiaye, but at the top end, where it matters, they are lacking the movement to complement this.

The home side enjoyed some good moments in their build-up play, but could not turn this into big chances in front of goal. Once again, neither Beto nor Thierno Barry could get on the scoresheet.

Maybe there’s a case for Michael Keane, who headed in James Garner’s cross to open the scoring, to be given a go up front!

Though West Ham sit 19th in the table, there were positives in the shape of several players who can cause the opposition problems.

“One thing you mustn’t forget is how good a side West Ham have got,” said Moyes, suggesting the position in the table of Everton’s opponents does not reflect the quality in their squad.

“They have Brazil and England internationals, so it wasn’t going to be a game where we could just roll them over, far from it.”

In the end, the goal came from an England international, but it was a Senegalese international who really made the difference, doing the hard work to set it up.

The 20-year-old left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf burst down the left flank, leaving Jake O’Brien and James Tarkowski behind him, making the Everton defenders appear as if they were actually running in the muddy banks of the Mersey rather than the pristine surface of the new ground.

The cross Diouf produced at the end of his run was brilliant given the speed at which he was moving, and though it was partly headed clear, it fell to Jarrod Bowen on the opposite side.

He took advantage of the time and space created by his teammate’s lung-busting run and sent a shot into the far corner with his left foot.

A draw was about fair, unlike the decision to book Dewsbury-Hall late in the game, which means he is suspended for Everton’s upcoming match at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday.