Crystal Palace returned to their winning ways in spectacular fashion, defeating London rivals West Ham United 4-3 at Selhurst Park in the Premier League.
In an action-packed first half, Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha, and Jeffrey Schlupp cancelled out Tomas Soucek’s opening goal before Michail Antonio managed to cut the deficit.
Following the break, Eberechi Eze and Nayef Aguerd scored for their respective teams, and Roy Hodgson’s men persevered nine minutes of added time to jump Chelsea in the top-flight table.
A problem with the season ticket scanners caused a 15-minute delay in the kickoff in the capital, but the small delay had no effect on the offensive quality of either side throughout a frantic first half.
Hodgson’s side, who had Zaha back in the squad after a groyne injury, took the lead after only nine minutes, when the hosts failed to deal with a cross into the six-yard box and Soucek blasted home from close range.
However, as the team with the most points from dropping spots in the 2022-23 Premier League, Palace’s reaction was predictably positive, and West Ham’s lead lasted only six minutes.
Palaces’ dominant tactics were enough to blindsight West Ham
Michael Olise, who was responsible for the Hammers’ opening goal, passed through Ayew, and the beat Lukasz Fabianski at his near wall with a low shot into the corner.
When attempting to block the Palace attacker’s shot, West Ham’s Kurt Zouma felt the full force of Ayew’s studs and was replaced by Angelo Ogbonna shortly afterwards.
David Moyes’ men went down in the 20th minute after failing to deal with Olise’s pass across goal, which Zaha left-footed home off the post.
As impressive as the Eagles’ forward line was, West Ham was ultimately to blame for their own demise. Soucek, who had scored two goals, went from hero to zero on the half-hour mark after Schlupp robbed him of the ball in a risky area and went on to score the third goal for the visitors through Fabianski’s legs.
The back-and-forth activity did not stop there; in the 35th minute, Soucek immediately atoned for his mistakes by flicking in a corner for Antonio, who sprinted to the back post to head home and quickly cut the lead.
In the West Ham area, a fight between Zaha and Vladimir Coufal resulted in Crystal Palace supporters yelling for a penalty, but referee Craig Pawson and VAR officer Jarred Gillett were unconvinced. This dispute suitably capped off an exciting first half.
West Ham needs to hit on the break
Given the amount of energy that both sets of players consumed in the first 45 minutes, maybe we anticipated a low-key start to the second half, but Palace continued to play aggressively and soon after the hour mark, they won a penalty appeal.
Eze fell to the ground behind Aguerd’s flailing arm after a deft passing play, and despite the sparse contact, Pawson gestured to the area. In the 65th minute, Eze picked himself up, stumbled, and sent Fabianski in the wrong direction to reclaim the Eagles’ two-goal advantage.
However, Palace had not learned from conceding the first two goals to West Ham, and the hosts’ shortcomings in defending corners once more came back to bite them when Moyes’s team scored another goal after 73 minutes.
Aguerd corrected his error at the other end with the tiniest of touches to drive the ball across the goal line after Soucek met the set-piece at the near post and flicked the ball onto the back stick, nearly exactly replicating Antonio’s first-half effort.
The referee gave West Ham an initial six minutes of extra time to score a late equalizer, but Palace defended fearlessly, and by the time Pawson blew the final whistle, over 99 minutes had passed.
With 40 points from 34 games, the Eagles have moved up to 11th position and are on the verge of clinching their survival before playing another big-city match against Tottenham Hotspur the following Saturday.
West Ham, meanwhile, is still in 15th place with 34 points, five points above the relegation zone, and has a difficult trip to the Etihad Stadium to play Manchester City next Wednesday.
