Everton 1-1 West Ham: Bowen earns draw as Nuno Espirito Santo begins reign | OneFootball

Jarrod Bowen’s second-half strike earned West Ham a well-deserved point away to Everton in Nuno Espirito Santo’s first game in charge.

The Hammers once again refused to properly defend a cross and were punished by Michael Keane, powerfully heading in James Garner’s delivery on 17 minutes.

The London side struck back in the second half against the run of play when Bowen unleashed a vicious effort, swinging the momentum their way, but they couldn’t turn it into a decisive winner as the game ended 1-1.

As It Happened

Six minutes into the game, both sets of fans rose to applaud the late Bradley Lowery, marking a decade since the Sunderland mascot’s unforgettable appearance against Everton.

The home side dominated possession early on, but it was West Ham who threatened first when Crysencio Summerville waltzed through several challenges and saw his shot well blocked following a neat one-two with Niclas Füllkrug.

The London side pair combined again minutes later, yet the cross from the left was behind Füllkrug and he failed to direct it on target.

West Ham failed to heed Beto’s warning when he headed James Tarkowski’s cross straight at Alphonse Areola and fell behind to Michael Keane’s powerful header meeting James Garner’s ball in from the left.

The Hammers were far too slow to challenge Everton for the second ball after Areola punched the corner away, from which they’ve already conceded six this season. The Premier League stands at 16.

Kieran Dewsbury-Hall came close to doubling his side’s lead by diverting Iliman Ndiaye’s cross home with his head, but it flew just wide of the post, and Everton had to settle for a one-nil lead at the break.

Too many times the away side afforded space to Dewsbury-Hall in the middle, constantly able to calculate his passes – many of which released Grealish in behind on the left wing.

The Toffees were screaming for a penalty eight minutes after the restart as the ball was swatted down by the arm of Konstantinos Mavropanos, deemed to be in a natural position after lunging to block the cutback from Grealish.

Summerville proved a nuisance again for Everton and looked in utter disbelief that he didn’t steer in a poor header from Jake O’Brien to Pickford shortly after the hour mark.

Malick Diouf was charging forward on the left two minutes later, and while his cross went over the first man Jarrod Bowen picked up the pieces and angled a venomous effort across goal and into the net to haul his side level.

Shortly before coming off, Summerville was in behind on the left wing once again, providing a handful for O’Brien to deal with, and Pickford strides out to exact a well-timed tackle with his feet as the game approached the final 15 minutes.

Espirito Santo’s side nearly hit the self-destruct button eight minutes from time, having dominated the last half an hour, as Mavropanos was dispossessed by Dewsbury-Hall and brought him down just outside the box. Garner whipped the resulting free kick wide for Everton’s first shot since the 58th minute.

West Ham had to call on their goalkeeper Areola to make a fine stop and keep out Garner’s well-struck low effort through a crowd in the final minute of regular time.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s first game in charge deservedly ended as a draw after a dominant second half that will give West Ham fans much encouragement after a poor start to the season.

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