Match report: Crystal Palace 4-3 West Ham
Premier League: “Two greybeard pragmatists meeting for the last time? If so, they signed off in style, having begun the day sharing convivial, back-slapping pre-match duties.” John Brewin reports from Selhurst Park …
Roy Hodgson's post-match thoughts ...
“I’m pleased with the victory,” he tells BT Sport. “I thought there were moments in the game where we played well. I have to give credit to West Ham because there were periods in the game where we were playing well enough to put them out of sight to some extent especially given they are playing three matches a week and we are much fresher.
“It was a good lesson for everyone in football that set plays are a big part of the game and if you become as good at set plays as they are, it’s not always easy for your team no matter how hard you try to get your defence to deal with it. You’ve still got to deal with that individual battle where you have got to try and stop them getting the first or second header.
“We’ve got adventurous players, we had a lot of shots, created chances and I was really pleased with our passages of play. In the last 10 minutes or so you are worried that a long throw or a corner kick or long ball forward doesn’t cost you the points.
“In the six games we have played, we lost one and arguably we shouldn’t have lost it. There is no reason for me to believe that the other teams are going to get 12 points from four games and we are going to get nothing.”
Ebereche Ezi speaks ...
“Absolute madness, man,” says the Crystal Palace winger in an interview with BT Sport. “We worked hard, we gave everything. They’re good at set-pieces and that was their main threat today. We did hwat we could at the end and we’re happy to get the three points today.”
On Palace playing with freedom: “Yeah, that’s we’ve done since Roy came in and we’re thriving under him. We’re playing good football, we’re being creative, we’re positive when we have the ball. It’s a credit to all of us. We’re working so hard.”
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Full time: Crystal Palace 4-3 West Ham
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeep! Are you not entertained? One of the best games played in the top flight this season ends with victory for Crystal Palace by the odd goal of seven. They move on to 40 points and the safety that comes with it. West Ham will feel aggrieved at leaving Selhurst Park with nothing despite scoring three goals away from home and could argue they deserved at least a point. They didn’t get one and remain in the relegation mix with league games against Manchester United and Manchester City coming up.
90+9min: A dreadful delivery by Said Benrahma ruins any faint chance West Ham have of snatching a late equaliser. It’s all over and Palace have won.
90+8 min: There’s a flare-up out by the touchline between Aguerd and Edouard, after the Palace substitute slaps the ball out of the West Ham player’s hands. The watch of referee Craig Pawson seems to have stopped.
90+7 min: Ogbonna boots the ball forward from deep. Guehi heads clear on this occasion.
90+6 min: Fabianski launches a free-kick from deep forward. Joachim Andersen heads clear for Palace.
90+3 min: Cresswell’s delivery is headed out for a throw-in. Coufal hurls the ball long and Aguerd gets his head to it. He can only steer it harmlessly into the gloves of Sam Johnstone in the Palace goal.
90+3 min: West Ham win a corner, their most likely source of an equaliser.
90+2 min: Coufal sends a long ball down the right touchline and Cornet concedes a throw-in beside the corner flag under pressure from two defenders.
90+1 min: We’ll have a minimum of six added minutes.
89 min: West Ham need a goal but it’s Crystal Palace who continue to turn the screw, dominating these closing stages. West Ham substitution: Maxwel Cornet, who I must confess I had completely forgotten plays for West Ham, replaces Michail Antonio.
85 min: Crystal Palace corner. The ball’s swung towards Joachim Andersen, who heads wide under pressure from Declan Rice. A replay shows the ball actually went out off Rice’s head but West Ham are awarded a goal kick. Joachim Andersen is not best pleased.
82 min: Ward and Cresswell contest a bouncing ball on the edge of the West Ham penalty area and the Crystal Palace right-back is penalised for a late challenge. Palace substitution: Odsonne Edouard on for Wilf Zaha. He’ll play through the middle, while Jordan Ayew has moved out to the left wing.
80 min: Ogbonna loses track of the flight of a long ball from deep and is beaten to it by Jordan Ayew, who draws a foul from the defender. Free-kick for Palace, about 40 yards from the West Ham goal. Eze sends the ball into the penalty area, where Danny Ings hoofs it clear.
79 min: Rice tries to play Benrahma in behind down the left touchline but the Algerian international is penalised for offside.
77 min: There’s a break in play so somebody or other can receive treatment and various other players take the opportunity to get some fluids on board.
75 min: West Ham survive a VAR check for a possible handball in the build-up to the goal. As for who scored it? You can take your pick from Soucek, Aguerd, Antonio or Own Goal. It seems the Premier League have awarded to Nayef Aguerd.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 4-3 West Ham (Aguerd 73)
West Ham pull one back. From a corner, Soucek got a flick at the near post, sending the ball looping up in the air. Either one of Aguerd or Antonio got the faintest of touches at the far post and the ball ended up in the back of the net. Aguerd looks to be claiming it so let’s give it to him.
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70 min: Zaha tries to pick out Joel Ward with a scooped pass across the West Ham penalty area. His delivery is intercepted and a potential Goal of the Season contender goes unscored by the Crystal Palace right-back, who had been shaping to rip the net off the goal frame with a venomous volley from 18 yards.
68 min: West Ham substitution: Danny Ings on for Lucas Paqueta. West Ham are now playing with two up front. Michail Antonio had been looking pretty isolated up there on his own, so let’s see what happens now.
67 min: That goal was coming. Palace have completely dominated this second half so far and the changes rung by David Moyes at the break have had little or no effect on the game.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 4-2 West Ham (Eze 65pen)
Palace extend their lead! Without looking at the ball, Eze takes a stuttering run-up, waits for Fabianski to go one way and then rolls the ball into the opposite corner.
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PENALTY FOR PALACE!
63 min: Eberechi Eze goes down in the West Ham penalty area, apparently the victim of a tug on the shirt or arm by Nayef Aguerd. It’s a soft one but there was a foul.
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62 min: Rice sends a long ball from deep in the direction of Antonio, who is unable to do much with it.
61 min: Ogbonna clears Olise’s corner with a meaty header from the edge of his own six-yard box. Wilf Zaha is still moving quite gingerly in the wake of that foul by Coufal.
60 min: Olise sends the ball towards Ayew at the near post, Soucek wins the header and Palace get a corner.
59 min: Vladimir Coufal is booked for tripping Zaha a few yards outside the West Ham penalty area. Free-kick for Palace, wide on the left.
58 min: Palace win a corner and Olise sends the ball into the West Ham penalty area. It’s headed clear by Soucek.
57 min: After an excellent spell of keep-ball from Palace, Tyrick Mitchell sends a cross into the West Ham penalty area. Eze miscontrols the ball and a decent opportunity goes to waste.
53 min: In the wake of excellent work from Cheick Doucoure down by the corner flag, Olise finds himself with the ball at his feet on the edge of the West Ham penalty area. He tries to curl one into the top corner, but Fabianski tips the ball over the bar.
52 min: Palace corner. Olise takes it short again, receives the return pass and then wildly overhits his cross to the far post, sending the ball into the stand behind the goal.
50 min: Michail Antonio tries to canter down the left wing to latch on to a long ball from Cresswell but is clearly held by Joachim Andersen. For reasons best known to referee Craig Pawson, he doesn’t get a free-kick.
48 min: Jarrod Bowen scurries down the right side of the Palace penalty area and tries to square the ball. The home side clear.
47 min: Benrahma is penalised for fouling Olise and Palace have a free-kick wide on the right. Eze curls the ball into the penalty area but his delivery is poor. Aaron Cresswell heads clear.
Second half: Crystal Palace 3-2 West Ham
46 min: Play resumes and West Ham have made two changes. Aaron Cresswell and Said Benrahma, the players who dropped to the bench today, have been introduced. Emerson and Pablo Fornals, who came in for them, have made way.
A quick recap: Following a 15 minute delay prompted by turnstile issues, West Ham opened the scoring against the run of play when Tomas Soucek rifled home from close range when the ball broke his way from a corner.
Jordan Ayew equalised not long after wards, slotting home after being played in behind by Michael Olise, who has been a constant threat for Palace. He tunred provider again, teeing up Wilf Zaha to fire Palace ahead from close range on his return from injury.
Palace made it 3-1 when Jeffrey Schlupp caught Tomas Soucek on his heels facing his own goal, then nutmegged Lukasz Fabianski. West Ham scored their second from a corner, Soucek’s near post flick allowing Michail Antonio to head home from three yards out.
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Half-time: Crystal Palace 3-2 West Ham
Peep! A terrific half of football is brought to a close with Palace leading by the odd goal of five scored in the opening 45 minutes. On the evidence of what we’ve seen so far, there could be plenty more to come in the second half.
45+4 min: There’s another appeal for a Palace penalty as Zaha goes to ground, apparently dragged there by Soucek. There’s no spot-kick and replays show both players were dragging out of each other.
45+3 min: From the free-kick, Eze sends the ball into penalty area, where Soucek heads clear. His clearance drops kindly for Schlupp, whose first time shot is on target but blocked by the Czech international.
45+2 min: Nayef Aguerd is penalised, extremely harshly in my opinion, for a foul on Olise. Free-kick for Palace, about 35 yards from goal in line with the right side of the penalty area.
45+1min: We’re into the first of five added minutes at the end of what has been a hugely entertaining first half. There’s been a real end-of-term feel about this game, even if neither side (particularly West Ham) can claim to be completely safe from the threat of relegation.
44 min: West Ham launch the ball forward from deep but Marc Guehi is on hand to head it clear before Jarrod Bowen can get to it.
42 min: Dribbling down the left side of the West Ham penalty area, Zaha skips past Coufal and pulls the ball back from the byline. West Ham clear.
40 min: Palace launch another attack. Michael Olise tries to jink his way down the inside right but is dispossessed by Emerson, who clears the ball upfield.
40 min: Wilf Zaha shoots into the side-netting from a tight angle after playing a neat one-two with Jeffrey Schlupp in the West Ham penalty area.
38 min: Chasing a ball into the box from Olise, Eberchi Eze goes down under pressure from Nayef Aguerd. The Palace fans behind the goal appeal for a penalty but none is forthcoming. Correct decision.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 3-2 West Ham (Antonio 36)
35 min: Michail Antonio wins a corner for West Ham. The ball’s sent into the penalty area, Soucek gets a flick across the face of goal and Antonio nods home from three yards out at the back post. This is tremendous fun!
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33 min: Picking up the ball outside the West Ham penalty area, Schlupp tries his luck from distance. His effort fizzes a foot or two over the bar.
32 min: It would be fair to say David Moyes wasn’t best pleased with the concession of that goal and it’s small wonder. He slammed a water-bottle into the turf as Jeffrey Schlupp nutmegged Fabianski.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 3-1 West Ham (Schlupp 30)
Palace extend their lead! West Ham try to play the ball out from the back. Schlupp catches Soucek napping about five yards outside his own penalty area, robs him of the ball and advances unopposed on the West Ham goal. As Fabianski came off his line to try to deny him, Schlupp prodded the ball between the goalkeeper’s legs and into the back of the net.
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28 min: Palace corner. Eze takes it short to Olise, who picks out Zaha in line with the left edge of the West Ham penalty area. He stands the ball up for Schlupp, who sends a looping header on to the roof of the net.
26 min: Vladimir Coufal sends a weak cross towards the near post from the byline. There’s no pace on the delivery and Michail Antonio can only send a fairly feeble looping header over the bar.
24 min: Michael Olise is wreaking havoc down the right for Palace and Tomas Soucek gets booked for trying to put a stop to his gallop with a late tackle. From the free-kick, Palace win a corner. Olise takes it short to Eze, picks up the return pass and sends the ball into the West Ham penalty area. Ogbonna clears.
22 min: It wasn’t the cleanest of contacts from Zaha but they all count. He’d burst a gut to get to the far post, the ball trundled his way from the right and he sidefooted across the face of goal and inside the far post.
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GOAL! Crystal Palace 2-1 West Ham (Zaha 20)
Palace lead! Back from a spell on the sidellines with a groin injury, Wilf Zaha fires his side into the lead, sidefooting home at the far post after getting on the end of a low cross from Olise.
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19 min: West Ham substitution: Zouma is helped from the field by two medical staff and replaced by Angelo Ogbonna.
17 min: There’s a break in play as Zouma receives treatment for an injury. He seemed to hurt his ankle, getting caught on his ankle by Ayew’s studs as the Palace winger followed through on the shot that restored parity for Palace.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-1 West Ham (Ayew 15)
Palace equalise! Jordan Ayew gets the “wrong” side of Kurt Zouma, runs on to a delightfully weighted through ball from Micahel Olise and fires a low diagonal effort past Lucasz Fabianski. It’s his fourth goal of the season.
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14 min: Soucek and Lucas Paqueta combine down the right touchline but their good work is undone by Jeffrey Schlupp, who wins the ball and sends Palace forward again.
11 min: It’s early in the game but it’s fair to say that West Ham opener came against the run of play. Jarrod Bowen sent his corner towards the far post, where Olise got his head to it but succeeded only in heading it into the path of Soucek in a crowded penalty area. Quick to react, the Czech international smashed the ball past Sam Johnstone, who had no chance of stopping it.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-1 West Ham (Soucek 9)
West Ham lead! Tomas Soucek buries the ball from close range after it is headed his way by Michael Olise from Jarrod Bowen’s corner. It’s a great, albeit unwitting assist from Olise, who one presumes didn’t really mean to head the ball across the face of his own goal.
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8 min: Antonio picks out Jarrod Bowen with a lovely ball around the corner, but the midfielder’s cross is put out for a corner. The ball’s swung in to the mixer, where Marc Guehi heads it out for another corner.
7 min: The corner is taken short but nothing comes of it. Emerson clears for West Ham.
5 min: Michael Olise canters down the right wing, cuts inside and tries to cross from the byline. Emerson Palmieri does well to dive in and intercept. Corner for Palace.
4 min: Palace continue to dominate, refusing to allow West Ham to get anything resembling a foothold in the game. Schlupp is penalised for a foul on Jarrod Bowen and West Ham have a chance to get forward for the first time.
3 min: Wilf Zaha threads the ball down the inside left for Jeffrey Schlupp to chase into the penalty area. Under pressure from Tomas Soucek, he slips and the ball goes out for a goal kick.
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2 min: Palace dominate possession in these very early stages, pinging the ball hither and yon as they search for an opening.
Crystal Palace v West Ham is go ...
1 min: Crystal Palace get the ball rolling, their players wearing their customary home kit. West Ham’sd players wear white shirts, orange shorts and white socks. Game on!
Not long now: Most of the fans are safely in their seats, the last few stragglers are on their way in to the ground and the players are ready for action.
Captains Wilf Zaha and Declan Rice lead out their sides to a soundtrack of Glad All Over from the Selhurst Park faithful and line up either side of Craig Pawson and his team of match officials. It’s a beautiful, sunny spring day in Sarf Lahndan and kick-off is just a few couple of minutes away.
Kick-off delayed by 15 minutes
With hundreds, if not thousands of Palace fans still unintentionally locked outside the ground and the resident IT crowd busy at work trying to fix the card readers, kick-off has been delayed until 12.45pm (BST).
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Not long now: Or is it? There are a lot of Palace fans stuck outside the ground, apparently unable to gain access to the ground because of some problem with the season ticket card readers. There’s no news of any delay to kick-off yet but we’ll keep you posted.
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David Moyes: “I thought Roy was mad when he came back in but he has an incredible passion for the game,” said the West Ham manager ahead of today’s game. “I can understand why people want to work with him because he is such a talented coach. I hope we can win the game but I have to say Roy has done a fantastic job. We are in a position that we would rather not be and we have to keep picking up points. Our aim is to get as high up the table as we possibly can.”
Roy Hodgson: “We expect the same sort of tactical challenge you expect from most teams in the Premier League,” said the Crystal Palace manager during yesterday’s pre-match presser.
“They are a good team, they have good players, they are very well coached and managed and they have a lot of experience as well. They know just as well as we do what playing in the Premier League means.
“It’s not a question of a particular style. It’s trying to deal with the good organisation and quality they have, making sure we are a match for it, and that we in turn can ask them some questions with regard to the play that we put before them.”
Those teams: Wilf Zaha returns to Crystal Palace’s starting line-up for the first time in four games and is one of four changes to the side beaten by Wolves on Wednesday made by Roy Hodgson. Joel Ward, Jeffrey Schlupp and Cheick Doucoure also come in.
David Moyes makes two changes to the West Ham side that lost against Liverpool in midweek. Pablo Fornals makes only his second start since January, coming in for Said Benrahma. Emerson Palmieri starts at left-back, with Aaron Cresswell making way.
Crystal Palace v West Ham line-ups
Crystal Palace: Johnstone, Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell, Doucoure, Schlupp, Olise, Eze, Zaha, Ayew.
Subs: Guaita, Milivojevic, Tomkins, Lokonga, Mateta, Hughes, Edouard, Richards.
West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson, Rice, Soucek, Paqueta, Fornals, Antonio, Bowen.
Subs: Areola, Cresswell, Lanzini, Downes, Cornet, Ings, Ogbonna, Benrahma, Kehrer.
Today’s match officials
Referee: Craig Pawson.
Assistants: Scott Ledger and Derek Eaton.
Fourth official: Andy Madley.
VAR: Jarred Gillett.
Early team news
Wilfried Zaha is back and available for selection for Crystal Palace, having missed their past four game with a groin injury, while Nathanial Clyne may also feature. Joachim Andersen is rated at no better than fifty-fifty after being taken off at half-time during Palace’s defeat at the hands of Wolves last time out, a game in which the Dane scored an own goal.
West Ham have a fairly clean bill of health and are only missing Gianluca Scamaca, who is recovering from knee surgery he recently underwent in Rome. Despite the procedure taking just a few minutes, Scamamca’s new representatives have said their client will need up to three months to recuperate, apparently raising eyebrows behind the scenes at West Ham and prompting speculation that they are trying to engineer a move back to Serie for the striker, who has underwhelmed during his first season in the Premier League.
Premier League: Crystal Palace v West Ham
The opportunity to put further distance between themselves and the drop zone is up for grabs as Crystal Palace host West Ham at Selhurst Park in the first of this bank holiday weekend’s Premier League games. Just three short of the magic 40-point mark, Palace can pretty much guarantee themselves an 11th consecutive season in the top flight with victory, or even a point today.
Three points behind them in the table having played one game fewer than both their hosts and the five sides beneath them, West Ham will probably serttle for a point too. They’ve hauled themselves five points clear of the relegation trapdoor after taking seven of the past 12 points available but are still only a couple of bad results from being sucked right back into the relegation mix. They will be eager to add to their tally, with more daunting league fixtures against Manchester City and Manchester United to come.
Kick-off at Selhurst Park is at 12.30pm (BST) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
