Strange as it sounds, the most important thing was for West Ham not to lose. They may have been at home for David Moyes’ second game in charge but given the atmosphere around the place this season, that is not necessarily an advantage.
So from that point of view, the Moyes regime is up and running. He has his first point, his first goal and, on this occasion, his team were able to leave the field at the London Stadium with no verbal assault to the ear drums.
The basic facts of a good game are that West Ham started terribly — Marc Albrighton scoring early after a dreadful error from home defender Angelo Ogbonna — but then got better to such an extent that they could have won.