Jarrod Bowen’s 65th-minute equaliser earned West Ham United a point as Nuno Espírito Santo’s reign began with a draw at Everton. Michael Keane had earlier powered in a superb header from James Garner’s wicked delivery, but Bowen found space at the back post to lash in via a deflection off Keane — the first opposition Premier League goal at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Everton controlled long stretches, especially before the break, with Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall prominent and Beto and Iliman Ndiaye drawing routine stops from Alphonse Areola. Yet the cutting edge deserted David Moyes’ side: 12 shots, six on target, but few to stretch the visiting goalkeeper. West Ham settled after the interval, finished the stronger and departed with their first league points since the end of August, though they remain second from bottom on four points; Everton rise to ninth on eight.

Control without the finish: Everton’s early platform

Moyes’ Everton looked well-drilled from the off, recycling possession and probing until the set-piece breakthrough arrived. From an Everton corner, Areola’s punch only cleared the first delivery, West Ham failed to push out, and when Garner was fed again he bent a perfect inswinger that Keane met unopposed to thump home after poor marking, with Konstantinos Mavropanos too passive.

Grealish knitted attacks and repeatedly drew contact — five fouls in dangerous areas — keeping West Ham under set-piece strain as Everton sent in 22 crosses on the night. But the Toffees’ decision-making betrayed them in the moments that mattered. Beto and Ndiaye were lively but direct efforts went straight at Areola, and the home side could not press the button for a second. “We had moments where we should have pressed the button a bit more and got the second goal,” Moyes reflected, lamenting choices in the final third.

Nuno’s blueprint takes hold down the left

Only 20 days after his sacking by Nottingham Forest, Nuno was back in a Premier League dugout, deploying his favoured 4-2-3-1 and asking for compactness. The opening exchanges belonged to Everton, but there were early signs of what might come next: the visitors’ left side, with Crysencio Summerville and El Hadji Malick Diouf, repeatedly targeted Jake O’Brien and carried West Ham up the pitch as they adapted to their new manager.

The equaliser arrived on 65 minutes from that channel. Diouf’s swinging cross caused uncertainty, Keane’s attempted intervention only steered the ball into a dangerous area and Bowen, alive at the back post, drilled a left-footed shot that nicked off Keane on its way beyond Jordan Pickford. He celebrated with the away end, a reminder of his talismanic status; as Jamie Carragher noted, Bowen is closing on the club’s Premier League goals record and “is one of the greatest players to play for the club.”

The tide turns and the noise grows

Either side of the equaliser, the game’s current altered. Everton began the second half brightly and piled on pressure, but when Pickford denied a Summerville flick after an O’Brien error, West Ham sensed the mood changing. Bowen’s goal crystallised that momentum, and from there Nuno’s team looked the likelier winners, pinning Everton back and forcing hurried clearances.

West Ham’s press and purpose led to mistakes at the back and called Pickford into further saves, while last-ditch blocks kept the scores level. In the stands, discontent rumbled among the travelling support with chants of “sack the board” and “we want our club back” directed at the hierarchy. Nuno framed the evening as a “very small step forward”, stressing, “It’s our main priority that we come closer to our fans… We have to deliver so they can appreciate the work of the boys.”

Set-pieces, fine margins and what’s next

Set-plays told a story. West Ham’s Achilles heel was visible again: Keane’s opener was the eighth goal they have conceded from corner situations this season, and it stemmed from the second phase after Areola’s initial punch, with the defensive line failing to reset. “In the goal we conceded, we should have been more aggressive and closer to Keane,” Nuno admitted, though he took heart that “the second half we started defending better.”

Everton, for their part, could not convert territory into a decisive cushion despite their delivery threat. Moyes rued the absence of a precise final pass or cross to finish off a promising display that nonetheless extends a three-game winless run. The point edges Everton up to ninth with eight points ahead of a home test against in-form Crystal Palace and then a trip to Manchester City. Nuno’s West Ham head to set-piece kings Arsenal, a timely prompt to tighten up from corners after banking a morale-boosting first point of the new era.