A point away at Everton is hardly an extraordinary example of ‘new manager bounce’ at its most dramatic, but it is a point West Ham United will certainly take on Nuno Espirito Santo’s Premier League return.
Positive substitutions, a few popular changes to the starting XI, and a strong second-half response after conceding yet another goal from a cross into the box.
On his first appearance in the West Ham United dugout, Nuno Espirito Santo endeared himself to a travelling support desperate to see something, anything even remotely different to the morale-sapping malaise of the Graham Potter era.
Nuno made a statement when dropping James Ward-Prowse. Probably the most maligned of West Ham’s players so far this season, and that’s saying something. Potter never appeared to trust Freddie Potts enough but, introduced for only the second time this season, Ward-Prowse might have fallen behind the youngster too, going from first-choice to fourth in the space of 48 hours.
The sight of Crysencio Summerville causing havoc down the left, and El Hadji Malick Diouf delivering another trademark cross for Jarrod Bowen’s leveller, only added to the sense of new-found positivity.
Andy Hinchcliffe, a Toffees legend, was happy enough to put his Everton allegiances aside as a member of the ‘left-back union’.
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty ImagesEverton hero Andy Hinchcliffe hails West Ham United’s Malick Diouf and Crysencio Summerville
Going into the weekend, Diouf was the full-back with Europe’s most assists so far in the opening weeks of the 2025/26 campaign. And while he is still on three, from six Premier League starts, it was his surging pace and wicked delivery which laid the foundations for Bowen’s flashing finish.
“Absolutely extraordinary [from Diouf]. The quality is outstanding,” Hinchcliffe told Sky Sports from the commentary gantry, albeit before criticising the other left-back in action at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
“Once [Bowen] shifts that ball, you’ve got to close him down. If you don’t, he’s got the quality to pick out the far corner. [Vitalii Mykolenko] has to do more. There’s no chance for [Jordan] Pickford.”
Nuno watched Summerville terrorise his Nottingham Forest team during that 3-0 West Ham victory at the end of August. The new Hammers boss will be glad he has the former Leeds star at his own disposal these days, with Hinchcliffe picking Summerville ahead of Bowen and Diouf while handing out Sky’s Player of the Match award.
“[Summerville was] West Ham’s best player,” said Hinchcliffe, who played almost 200 Premier League matches for Everton in the 1990s. “Absolutely outstanding.
“West Ham showed a lot of character, looked really confident. Every time [Summerville] got the ball, it looked like he was going to make something happen.
“I think they’ve been the better side overall. They created the better quality of chances, that’s for sure.”
Konstantinos Mavropanos was ‘so poor’ when Michael Keane headed Everton ahead
No West Ham performance is ever complete these days, however, without either Mads Hermansen or Alphonse Areola seeing a header flash into their net. It was Michael Keane on this occasion. The eighth goal the Hammers have conceded from a set-piece situation already this term.
Hinchcliffe could barely believe the space awarded to Keane by Konstantinos Mavropanos, in particular.
“If there’s pace on the ball and you direct it, it just zips past the goalkeeper,” the pundit said, bemused. “If you can’t stop the cross, you’ve got to pick up who is on the end of it. [The West Ham players] are jogging out, there’s no pressure on the ball.
“No one is anywhere near Michael Keane. Mavropanos is nowhere near him. So poor defensively from a ball into the box.”