Match report and highlights as Crystal Palace's attacking excellence overcomes defensive frailties in West Ham thriller; Eagles close to Premier League safety with 11-point gap to bottom three; Hammers not yet safe after successive defeats; watch free highlights from 5.15pm on Sky Sports
Sunday 30 April 2023 08:04, UK
Roy Hodgson believes Crystal Palace have lifted themselves out of the relegation battle after they edged closer to mathematical safety with a thrilling 4-3 victory over West Ham at Selhurst Park.
Palace produced a scintillating response to Tomas Soucek's early opener as Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha and Jeffrey Schlupp struck in the space of 15 first-half minutes to seize control of the game, but the Eagles' vulnerability at set-pieces would repeatedly offer West Ham lifelines.
After Michail Antonio reduced the deficit from a corner before the break, Palace restored their two-goal lead midway through the second half, with Eberechi Eze winning and converting a penalty. But back came West Ham again, with Nayef Aguerd nodding in to atone for his foul on Eze and set up a grandstand finale.
West Ham's potency at set-pieces was not matched by their overall attacking output, though, as Palace held on for a first Premier League win in three which lifts them up to 11th in the table and sees Roy Hodgson's side reach the coveted 40-point mark with four games to play. West Ham remain 15th, five points clear of the relegation zone with five games left to guarantee safety.
"Before you start asking the question, yes, I think we are safe!" Hodgson said.
"We are where we are purely because we have good players, the club's recruitment has been so good in rejuvenating the team I worked with previously. The club can look forward to a platform where they can hope to push forward."
After a 15-minute delay to kick-off due to turnstile issues at Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace started as though they were making up for lost time in attack but paid the price for being careless in defence as West Ham took the lead. Michael Olise's poor defensive header from a corner fell for Soucek, who lashed in his third goal of the season from 12 yards.
Palace's response was swift and ruthless, with Ayew firing a shot in at the near post to restore parity five minutes later before Zaha, making his first since April 1, hooked in at the back post to complete the turnaround on 20 minutes.
West Ham's loss of defender Kurt Zouma to injury was compounded two minutes later when Schlupp dispossessed the dithering Soucek and raced clear before slotting in Palace's third.
But Palace's frailty at dead balls came back to haunt them as Antonio reduced the arrears with a close-range header after Soucek had flicked a corner on at the near post.
Palace were aggrieved not to be awarded a penalty in first-half stoppage time after Zaha was hauled down in the area by Vladimir Coufal, but referee Craig Pawson did point to the spot on 66 minutes after Aguerd was adjudged to have tugged Eze as he raced through on goal.
After a VAR review Eze stepped up and sent Lukasz Fabianski the wrong way as Palace established a 4-2 lead. It would last just six minutes, with Soucek flicking another corner on at the near post for Aguerd to bundle into the Palace net, but it proved too little, too late for the below-par Hammers to stage a comeback.
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson: "Before you start asking the question, yes, I think we are safe! The players showed incredible energy. I couldn't be more delighted with how my players overcame the slaps in the face that we got after taking a two-goal lead.
"You've got to develop an incredible resilience to be a top-class footballer. What I see in this group is the makings of a very good team and a large streak of resilience and determination.
"We are where we are purely because we have good players, the club's recruitment has been so good in rejuvenating the team I worked with previously. The club can look forward to a platform where they can hope to push forward."
West Ham manager David Moyes: "VAR has prided itself on not giving soft penalty kicks away this year, but that would go down as a very soft penalty.
"I'm more frustrated by the way we played the whole game. We didn't play well, Palace showed more quality, played better. Over the years I've prided myself on my teams being pretty hard to beat and play against, today we weren't hard to beat or play against. That is the most galling bit for me.
"But two huge decisions have gone against us this week which could have meant we didn't lose the points. It's fine lines at the moment between us getting something from games and not."
West Ham travel to Manchester City on Wednesday at 8pm - live on Sky Sports - while Crystal Palace head to Tottenham on Saturday at 3pm.
May 6: Tottenham (A) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 13: Bournemouth (H) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 20: Fulham (A) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 28: Nottingham Forest (H) - Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm
May 3: Man City (A) - Premier League, kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports
May 7: Man Utd (H) - Premier League, kick-off 7pm
May 14: Brentford (A) - Premier League, kick-off 2pm
May 21: Leeds (H) - Premier League, kick-off 1.30pm
May 28: Leicester City (A) - Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm
