A tame Sunday afternoon affair between two struggling teams concluded with Everton picking up their first Premier League win of the season.
Neal Maupay's strike, shortly after the interval, was the difference between two teams which justified their goalscoring struggles, so far this season. The Frenchmen's first Everton goal was a rare moment of quality in the game.
The victory steers Everton clear off the relegation zone going into the international break. On the other hand, things look worrying for West Ham - sitting in 18th place, two points behind Crystal Palace and Wolves directly above them.
Here are some of the takeaways from yesterday's action:
New signings are causing selection dilemmas
The summer signings of Lucas Paqueta, Gianluca Scamacca, Maxwel Cornet, Emerson Palmieri, Thilo Kehrer, Nayef Agured and Flynn Downes have added much-needed depth to the previously thin West Ham squad.
However, they have also brought about a new issue for David Moyes. West Ham, currently, have no idea what their best 11 is. Players have got chances, with the presence of UEFA Conference League football, but fairly impressive performances on Thursdays from players will not necessarily correlate to the significant increase in quality, which they have and will continue to face on weekends.
The issues that this now presents, is the creation of the constant contrasting opinions among the fanbase, regarding who should and should not be starting. This was already evident yesterday, with fans questioning the emissions of Cornet, Scamacca and Emerson, following the announcement of the lineups.
Moyes will now have an extra source of pressure to deal with, as a large portion of supporters will challenge his team selection, to a much greater extent than before.
Similarly, players will now be on a shorter leash among the fanbase, with last season's star man Jarrod Bowen's slow start to the season already prompting calls for him to be dropped.
Moyes to face escalating pressure
Leading on from the end of the previous point, West Ham's manager will now be dealing with the growing frustration aimed towards him.
The hugely disappointing output of just four points from the opening seven league games has already gone a long way towards ruining any hopes of a third consecutive European place push in the league.
West Ham's poor league form goes back even further than just the start of this season. Just like their first seven fixtures, so far, this campaign, their last seven league games of 2021/22 also produced just one win.
Going further back, it is 23 points from their last 23 league games - a sign of a team long removed from the one which looked capable of maintaining a UEFA Champions League place push, in November 2021.
Barring a drastic change in fortunes, the already building pressure on Moyes will continue to escalate, with the frustration among the fanbase already at very high levels.
Coady & Tarkowski have transformed Toffees
The sign of Everton's defensive improvement is reflected by the fact that they have been able to remain unbeaten in their five most recent league games, while only scoring four goals in that time.
Away draws at Brentford and Leeds have been backed up, most recently, with clean sheets at Goodison Park against Liverpool and West Ham.
The signings of Conor Coady and James Tarkowski seem to have made a serious difference and brought some much-needed reliability to the centre of defence.
Well complimented by Nathan Patterson and, especially, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Everton are now looking like a much more stable team. Even if their attacking play still leaves a lot to be desired, it is already a significant improvement on last season.
First Everton win relieves pressure
With all looking fairly well at the back, Everton were still without a win going into yesterday's fixture. Therefore, the final whistle to conclude Sunday's drab affair would have come as a massive relief, for Everton supporters.
From Frank Lampard's point of view, even with the positives of recent performances, it was a very heavy weight lifted off his shoulders. The longer their winless run would have stretched, the more mentally challenging it would have become for the players to break it - precisely why the eventual result was so important.
The drama of last season's relegation escape, while being a positive memory, in hindsight, will surely be strongly desired to be avoided, this time around.
Everton's early season performance suggest that there is a very realistic possibility of that being achieved. As mentioned, their attacking department remains a concern and may tame any lingering aspirations of a push for European places, but retaining their current stability at the back would go a long way towards ensuring that 2022/23 will be a much less stressful season for The Toffees.