A ghoulishly windy night in east London, plenty of huff and puff from two depleted sides, and at the end of it all, West Ham, if little else, refusing to be blown off course.
A goalless draw with Brighton will not be the most celebrated in a run of results that over the last month has included showpiece victories over Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United, but keeps the Irons inside the Premier League’s top six, now with a three-point cushion to the Seagulls in seventh.
A fourth win in a row would have seen the Hammers equal their tally for the entirety of last season, but consolation for David Moyes came in the shape of a club-record equaling fourth straight Premier League clean sheet - quite the turnaround for a side that managed only one in the first 16 games of the campaign.
Unlike last week at the Emirates, where a 2-0 victory was earned by a defiant collective rearguard, here the home goalkeeper, Alphonse Areola, stood head and shoulders clear, keeping Brighton at bay with a string of fine saves as his leggy team-mates threatened to buckle late on.
Missing seven key players to a cocktail of illness, injury and international duty, Moyes might have found little sympathy from counterpart Roberto De Zerbi, who was without nine of his own.
But this was the proverbial 'if you can't win, make sure you don't lose' contest for the Scot, who will hope to have at least three of that group back by the time he takes his team to Sheffield United in their next league match in almost three full weeks’ time. The storm has been weathered, for now at least.
Fornals and Benrahma fail to fill void
You would have won no Brain Of Britain gongs for predicting that the downgrade in West Ham’s wide players from Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta to Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals would be hefty, but if Moyes was hoping to be pleasantly surprised by two players with a point to prove, he was disappointed here.
Benrahma, at least, was heavily involved, but often too much so for the home crowd’s liking as he held the ball too long in key areas, the frustration felt almost perennially by Moyes seeping across the London Stadium at large.
Fornals, meanwhile, looks shot of confidence, no longer the energetic influence capable of bringing a spark to exactly this kind of middling affair.
Even in the relatively short-term, both players face uncertain futures in east London, complicated by the fact that they are required in the here and now, with Kudus potentially missing for more than a month and Paqueta currently nursing a knee problem.
There is no team in the country that would not be weakened by the loss of that pair, but in their absence, Moyes needs more from his understudies.
Ageless Milner sets shining example
On a night not big on rewarding the hardy watcher with instant gratification, a doff of the cap to James Milner, the greatest stayer of the era.
This was the 37-year-old’s 623rd Premier League appearance, coming hours before his 38th birthday and, more importantly, moving him joint-second with Ryan Giggs on the all-time list, only 21 shy of Gareth Barry’s record tally.
Few would bet against the Englishman going some way beyond that mark, and certainly not his manager, De Zerbi, who this week tipped his charge to surpass Teddy Sheringham’s record as the league’s oldest ever player at 40 years and 272 days.
Deployed here on the left wing, Milner created the game’s best chance, crossing for Pascal Gross, who ought to have done better than flick a free header straight at Areola.
He remains a standout example to all aspiring footballers, not least the staggering 11 youngsters across the two matchday squads who were not even born when he made his senior debut for Leeds in November 2002.
