Wilson Odobert scored his first Premier League goal in our colours as derby day at the London Stadium ended all square on Sunday afternoon.
The French forward produced a composed finish to fire us ahead early on in his 13th appearance for us in the competition, only for Jarrod Bowen to level it up before the break in what was a London derby that lacked the usual intensity of these games, with the sides positioned 17th and 16th in the table at kick-off.
With this match sandwiched in between our two huge Europa League semi-finals against Bodø/Glimt, Ange Postecoglou made eight changes to the team that started against the first leg on Thursday night, including an entirely new back four with Archie Gray, Kevin Danso, Ben Davies and Djed Spence all featuring.
It was a low-key start to the game and we took a while to get into any rhythm, yet took the lead in the 15th minute with a gift of an opportunity from the Hammers. Max Kilman had time to clear the ball but twice it against hit Mathys Tel, the second time allowing the forward to slide a cross into the area which found an unmarked Odobert, who coolly tucked home past the onrushing Alphonse Areola.
We were pegged back with the next chance in the game on 28 minutes as Aaron Wan-Bissaka slid a pass down the inside right channel for Bowen and, despite a very tight angle, he slipped the ball through the legs of Guglielmo Vicario to make it 1-1. Richarlison blazed over the bar with a difficult chance shortly after and had a better one five minutes before the break, put through with a lovely pass from Tel but chose to cross from a tight angle rather than try to finish as Bowen had done earlier and there was no-one on hand to apply the finishing touch.
There was a bit more life to the game as the second half opened up and we created an opportunity six minutes in when Pape Matar Sarr played a pass in behind Jean-Clair Todibo for Tel, whose final side-footed effort was easily saved by Areola, before Richarlison drilled over again from 15 yards out under real pressure from Kilman. At the other end, Bowen’s curling half-volley from the corner of the box flew just wide.
We made a change in the 68th minute as Mikey Moore stepped off the bench for Richarlison, the youngster’s first senior appearance since our FA Cup tie with Aston Villa on 9 February and, as both sides tried to work their way towards a winner, we went close on 79 minutes as Sarr’s fizzing effort just cleared the West Ham crossbar. It needed a wonderful save from Vicario to maintain parity a couple of minutes later, diving to his left to tip away Bowen’s flick from a James Ward-Prowse free-kick out in the left flank, while the last action of the game saw Ward-Prowse line up a dangerous free-kick 25 yards out from a central area, but he fired a yard wide and we headed home with a point.