Everton boss David Moyes watched his side dominate long stretches and strike first through Michael Keane’s superb header, only for Jarrod Bowen’s deflected finish on 65 minutes to peg them back to a 1-1 draw against West Ham United in Nuno Espírito Santo’s first game.

On a night when the Toffees controlled tempo and territory at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, the familiar frustration was a missing second goal. Everton produced 12 shots and put six on target, but too many were routine for Alphonse Areola. The result lifts Everton to ninth on eight points but extends a three-match winless run.

A statement start from Garner and Keane

Everton’s early authority was rewarded via a routine they have rehearsed well. From their first corner, Areola’s punch cleared only the initial ball; West Ham did not push out and James Garner, fed again on the left, whipped a perfect inswinger which Keane attacked unmarked, thundering his header past the stranded goalkeeper after slack marking from Konstantinos Mavropanos.

The connection between delivery and desire has become a reliable weapon under Moyes, and Keane’s transformation into a dependable figure in both boxes continued. The centre-back’s movement and timing caught West Ham cold, underlining the visitors’ ongoing vulnerability from corner situations this season.

All the flow, not enough finish

Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall knitted Everton’s play with an assurance that kept West Ham on the back foot throughout the first half. Grealish, in particular, was adept at earning free-kicks — five fouls won in advanced areas — and the hosts sent in 22 crosses to pile pressure on the visitors’ penalty area.

But the cutting edge was absent. Beto and Iliman Ndiaye both found sights of goal yet shot straight at Areola, and when Dewsbury-Hall arrived late to glance a header narrowly wide, it encapsulated a night of almosts. Moyes summed it up: “We had moments where we should have pressed the button a bit more and got the second goal… The decision-making in the final third [wasn’t] right.”

Left-flank trouble and the leveller

West Ham’s best moments came down Everton’s right, where Crysencio Summerville and the adventurous left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf repeatedly asked questions of Jake O’Brien. Just after the interval, an O’Brien error almost let Summerville in, only for Jordan Pickford to produce a smart stop from the winger’s clever flick.

The warning was not heeded. On 65 minutes Diouf swung in another threatening cross, Keane’s attempted intervention left the ball live at the far post and Bowen pounced, driving his left-footed effort in via a nick off Keane for the first opposition Premier League goal at Everton’s new home. The equaliser tilted the balance, and from then West Ham grew while Everton drifted.

Moyes’s verdict and the road ahead

Moyes remained frustrated that Everton could not turn their control into three points, even after they regained the initiative at the start of the second half. The manager saw his side pile on pressure after the break but, as with the first period, too many attempts were presentable for Areola. The Toffees were ultimately pushed back once West Ham found their footing, and Pickford was needed for further saves as the game stretched.

Still, there were positives aplenty: structure, territory, set-piece threat, and the form of Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall as creative hubs. The league table offers a measure of reassurance — ninth, level on eight points with several clubs including Chelsea — but the lesson is clear: finish moves when on top. A home date with in-form Crystal Palace and then a trip to Manchester City will test Everton’s progress; finding that missing second goal is the next step.