Cheikhou Kouyate equaliser salvages West Ham a point as David Moyes' men fight back against Leicester

West Ham United 1 Leicester City 1: The visitors pulled ahead but the Hammers hit back through Kouyate to avoid a second consecutive defeat under their new manager

Cheikhou Kouyate struck on the brink of half-time to draw the Hammers level with Leicester (Getty)

A first goal and first point for David Moyes at West Ham United - and a small point made. This 1-1 home draw with Leicester City wasn’t exactly the most wondrous games of football, and wasn’t exactly the most coherent home display, but there was enough in it for the hosts to offer that bit more hope than has been felt over the dismal last week.

More than anything, there was a bit of life to the London Stadium’s atmosphere and a bit of spirit about West Ham, best shown with the way they recovered from Marc Albrighton’s opening goal and a nervy 25 minutes here.

Moyes got the right response out of his team, though, even if there remains a fair bit wrong with this team that still has to be fixed.

This was clear to see after just eight minutes. Jamie Vardy may be one of the fastest players in the league, and his fine run down the left here might have been key to giving Leicester such a quick lead, but the harsh reality was that he and his side could have walked through the West Ham defence.

Albrighton put the Foxes ahead after eight minutes (Getty)

There was just such an openness. The England international was given yards of space to slide in his cross, with Albrighton left in acres to then divert the ball home.

It did look at that point as if Claude Puel’s side could enjoy making this a particularly difficult first home game for Moyes, and Vardy clearly enjoyed humiliating Winston Reid with one turn inside on 23 minutes.

There were just so many moments when Leicester further opened West Ham’s fragile structure, when the right pass could have made this a rout. Demarai Gray was left particularly frustrated when free on the right of Joe Hart’s goal, only to see Riyad Mahrez twist one way and then the other to take too much out of the play rather than taking the opportunity for the easy pass.

They were soon left even more frustrated just before half-time, when West Ham equalised for the first goal of the Moyes era. For the Scot’s part, it also came from the first positive passage of play seen in his side in the brief time since he took over; indeed, there was an impetus and energy to West Ham, even if it was still lacking a direction and shape.


 Kouyate celebrates equalising for West Ham - their first goal under Moyes 
 (Getty)

While Leicester always looked threatening on the break, those breaks happened because Moyes’ side were often pinning them back and creating danger themselves. Angelo Ogbonna had one close-range effort saved by Kasper Schmeichel, and was called upon to palm away a Manuel Lanzini free-kick, while Harry Maguire nicked the ball away just in time from one of the Argentine’s runs. There was proper pressure from West Ham, though, and it finally told with that most predictable of Moyes goals: a set-piece.

Lanzini swung it in, Kouyate got his head to it, and the ball went in off Danny Simpson.

West Ham had creditably regrouped, and the match had thereby settled into even more of a push-and-counter pattern. Hugo Iborra did try to break it with one long-distance effort just after half-time, but it drifted well wide.

It was also to Moyes’ credit that, despite the presence of Andy Carroll up front and his own infamous tendency towards teams that just get in crosses, that wasn’t all we saw from West Ham. There were much more bursts down the flanks, more attempts to get Lanzini involved in play. Schmeichel also had to be alert to grasp a fizzed Arthur Masuaku ball.

Moyes claimed his first point at West Ham on Friday night (Getty)

There was a conspicuous response from Marko Arnautovic, too, who looked fully willing to work the channels while offering a bit of wonder. One driving run down the right from deep in the second half to alleviate pressure and set up an attack seemed to encapsulate this attitude.

The stadium did start to crackle again on 77 minutes when Lanzini played in substitute Andre Ayew, only for the forward to go down under a bit of contact from Maguire. Replays revealed any contact was innocuous, and that Martin Atkinson was right to wave play on.

It looked like something more was maybe on when Masuaku seemed to get free in the box close to the end, only to slip and let the ball roll out of play.

You could say it reflected the scrappy nature of the encounter but that would be unfair, just as any late winner from a speculative Ayew bicycle kick that ultimately went over would have been unfair on Leicester. Moyes instead got a fair point, a first goal, and a bit of foundation to finally move on.