West Ham United have found themselves drawn back into the Premier League’s relegation battle with a 4-3 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon at Selhurst Park.
Tomas Soucek had given West Ham an early lead, but Palace then went 3-1 up inside 30 minutes via goals from Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha and Jeffrey Schlupp. Michail Antonio had got a goal back later in the half, that was cancelled out by a controversial Eberechi Eze penalty, given away by Nayef Aguerd, who then added a headed goal of his own.
Here are the talking points from the game, with West Ham now relying on others to do them a favour in the Premier League’s relegation battle.
READ MORE: Every word David Moyes said on Crystal Palace, relegation chances and Lucas Paqueta
A crazy London derby
Of the ten Premier League games on over the weekend, a lunchtime kick-off between London rivals Palace and West Ham was one where on paper at least, it looked like the game with the most jeopardy riding on it and therefore, could have been a safe bet for the least entertaining for the neutral. However, that proved to be far from the case.
Before a ball was kicked, there was drama as kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes due to an issue at the turnstiles scanning tickets, perhaps a pre-cursor of the chaos that was about to take place on the pitch.
Having gone almost a whole year, West Ham went from one extreme to the other by getting their fourth in the space of three games through Soucek, who struck brilliantly at the end of a poorly cleared Jarrod Bowen corner to give West Ham a 1-0 lead.
Not many would have seen what would or even could have guessed what would happen l in the commencing 30 minutes.
It took Palace just minutes to level when the Eagles’ slick passing cut through the West Ham side and Michael Olise’s pass found the run of Jordan Ayew, who got across Kurt Zouma before shooting and netting past Lukasz Fabianski to make it 1-1. As Zouma slid in to try and block the shot, he suffered an ankle injury which led to him being forced off minutes later.
Angelo Ogbonna replaced the injured Zouma but found himself part of a West Ham backline who could not deal with Palace’s fluid attackers once more second later as more slick passing and shoddy defending led to West Ham going 2-1 down. Returning Palace captain Wilfred Zaha was gifted a tap-in after Olise’s cross from the right made its way to him, helped on by some non-existent West Ham solidity at the back.
Soucek, who had been one of West Ham’s few bright sparks in the game, then found himself in the goals again. The problem was, it was for Palace.
Put into jeopardy by an unfavourable Aguerd pass, Soucek only had a chance to take one touch before the pressing and defensive quality of Schlupp got the better of him, with the midfielder winning the ball and putting himself through on goal before shooting past an unprotected Fabianski seconds later.
Able to go some way to make amends, Soucek did get West Ham a second goal out of nothing later in the first half, thundering a header towards the back post off an Emerson corner to give Antonio a chance to pull a goal back, one he took with aplomb for his 13th of the season and his third in four games.
Going into the game, West Ham manager Moyes made two changes from the 2-1 loss to Liverpool three days earlier, with Emerson and Pablo Fornals replacing Aaron Cresswell and Said Benrahma. However, at half-time, Moyes U-turned, reverting those changes.
While it did add more defensive control, despite West Ham being dominated, Palace regained their two-goal advantage when Eze burst towards the box and was bought down by Aguerd, although there was little contact. Despite a VAR check, it stood and Eze stepped up to convert and send Fabianski the wrong way.
For the second game in a row, it left Moyes baffled at VAR’s inability to even send referee Craig Pawson for a pitchside review.
That fourth blow proved too much to completely come back from, although West Ham did get one goal back from Aguerd in similar set-piece circumstances, with Soucek flicking in and Aguerd doing enough at the back post to scramble it in.
Despite scoring eight goals in their last three games against Bournemouth, Liverpool and Palace, West Ham have just three points to show for it and while their five-point advantage on the Premier League’s relegation zone is yet to be cut, there is a probable chance that it will be before West Ham face Manchester City on Wednesday night, barring an incredibly favourable set of results at the bottom of the table over the rest of the weekend.
Right back in the mix
After beating Bournemouth 4-0 away from home a week ago, West Ham found themselves six points clear of the Premier League’s relegation zone with seven games remaining and really, on the brink of sealing safety.
However, back-to-back defeats, albeit by narrow scorelines, have highlighted that really, West Ham still need results and fast.
As things stand, their league position and gap over the five clubs below them was not worsened, but only Nottingham Forest have played so far this weekend and had it not been for a late Brentford turnaround on Saturday afternoon, a rare Forest away win would have really piled the pressure on Moyes’ men.
With Leicester City and Everton, 18th and 19th respectively, facing each other, at least one of them, or both, will gain some ground on the Hammers.
West Ham will have a game hand on the rest of the bottom six once this weekend’s games are over, but it comes on Wednesday away at Manchester City, the first part of a doubleheader against the Manchester duo, who between them are both set for top four finishes.
Really, West Ham should not be banking or expecting positive results from those games, but near-misses against both the Reds and the Eagles has added unnecessary and unwanted pressure on those games with just five league games remaining in their season.
Tomas Soucek’s mixed afternoon
Had you not watched the match, you could be forgiven for thinking Soucek had a fantastic afternoon with a goal and two assists and to a certain extent. he did.
His early goal gave West Ham a lead, and he later chipped in with assists with big headers from Emerson and Bowen corners to set up goals for Antonio and Aguerd.
However, at 2-1 down, Soucek was caught out on the ball far too easily by Schlupp, who found himself in on goal to nestle in Palace’s third and all but seal victory for Roy Hodgson’s men, despite hitting back twice later on.
Soucek was not completely to blame as Aguerd passed to him in not the best of positions, but it was Soucek left with the spotlight on him for all the wrong reasons.
The Czech Republic midfielder would be fairly criticised for that moment, but his influence going forward simply should not be underestimated as a result. This season in the Premier League, Soucek has only got five direct goal contributions (two goals and three assists), but 60% of those came at Selhurst Park.
Defensively, Soucek did also rank joint-top for interceptions, joint-second in the West Ham side for tackles and second for the Hammers for clearances.
Yes, Soucek was the sole reason that Schlupp scored, but also the reason why it ended 4-3 and not 4-0, or even worse.
The Kurt Zouma concern
West Ham’s woes first came at the back when Ayew got across Zouma and shot to level, with Zouma getting injured in the process, leading to him being replaced by Ogbonna.
At first, there were concerns that a stretcher may be required to get Zouma off after injuring his ankle, but fortunately, he was able to hobble off, although very slowly and with a member of the club’s medical staff under each arm.
While Zouma and West Ham have not had the best of seasons, the Hammers’ backline and team as a whole have often struggled when Zouma has not played.
In the ten games he has not started this season, West Ham have one just once and averaged 0.7 points per game. In his 23 starts, West Ham have averaged 1.17 points per game, an increase of just under 60% in points per game with him in the team. However, both games he has been forced off early through injury have ended in defeat to Leicester City and now, Palace.
There is no way of knowing exactly whether West Ham would have prevented Palace from putting four past them had Zouma not get injured and played the duration, but there has been a notable difference, both in terms of leadership, control and solidity between when he has and has not played this season.
With just five league games left, an average of 0.7 points without Zouma starting, should his ankle issue be a worst-case-scenario issue, would mean West Ham would pick up between three and four points between now and the rest of the season. The 37/38 point mark should be safe, but not without concerns.
Not just for his availability and his quality in what will be an important seven-game May that includes the final five league games of the season, and the two Europa Conference League semi-finals with AZ Alkmaar, but West Ham will hope that Zouma’s absence is a minimal one.
Ted Lasso’s appearance
One famous face in the crowd at Selhurst Park was popular American actor Jason Sudeikis.
The 47-year-old was in attendance in the director’s box, currently the start of Apple TV hit show Ted Lasso, where he plays the title character as the manager of fictional Premier League side AFC Richmond.
The hit-tv show, which has won 11 awards the Emmy’s, is filmed at Selhurst Park, although in the show it is known as Nelson Road in the series.
The third series of the show is currently being broadcasted on a weekly basis, with Palace manager Hodgson confirming that he had spoken with lead actor Sudeikis shortly before his post-match press conference.
Asked about being praised by Palace winger Olise after the game, Hodgson said it was great to meet the actor, adding that the two of them agreed that English people are not very good at receiving compliments, following praise of Palace’s form under Hodgson.
“I’ve just been speaking to a very interesting man, Jason, who plays the part of Ted Lasso, it was a privilege to meet him there,” said Hodgson.
“We agreed that English people aren’t good at receiving compliments, we tend to shrug them off. I think I should receive and accept the compliment for what it is, I really appreciate it.”
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