Crystal Palace scored three rapid-fire goals in the first half and then held on to beat West Ham United 4-3 in a full-throttle thriller yesterday, lifting them further away from the Premier League’s relegation zone.
The win meant Palace leap-frogged Chelsea into 11th place in the table on 40 points after 34 games, although Chelsea have two games in hand.
Palace now have four wins, a draw and one loss in their six matches since Roy Hodgson was appointed manager in mid-March, and the new boss dared to suggest his team are out of relegation danger, although on paper it is still possible.
“I suppose one should do the classic ‘You know, until we mathematically say...’ but I’m not prepared to do that, because in the six games we’ve played now, we were good,” Hodgson told BT Sport.
“There’s no reason for me to believe in the last four games (of the season), these players are going to suddenly collapse and get nothing.”
We worked hard. We gave everything. We did what we could and we’re happy to get three points
— Eberechi Eze, Crystal Palace midfielder
Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha and Jeffrey Schlupp netted for the Eagles in a frenzied 15-minute stretch in the first half, and Eberechi Eze slotted a penalty past Hammers keeper Lukasz Fabianski in the second. “Absolute madness man,” Eze said.
“We worked hard. We gave everything. We did what we could and we’re happy to get three points. We’re thriving under (Hodgson). We’re being creative, we’re positive when we have the ball."
Tomas Soucek, Michail Antonio and Nayef Aguerd scored for David Moyes’ men in the battle of London rivals.
Technical trouble at the turnstiles caused a 15-minute delay to kick-off but the end-to-end action at a sun-drenched Selhurst Park was well worth the wait, with five goals in the first half alone.
West Ham dropped to 15th, five points clear of the drop zone, with five games remaining.
Soucek put West Ham in front in the ninth minute after Palace failed to clear a corner kick, but Palace drew even in the 15th minute when Michael Olise slipped the ball through to Ayew, who struck it first time into the bottom near corner.
Zaha, in his first game after missing four, put Palace ahead in the 20th when Olise’s pass found its way across the goal and Zaha was there to finish. Schlupp gave Palace a two-goal cushion 10 minutes later.
However, West Ham pulled one back in the 35th minute when Antonio nodded in a corner kick, giving the Hammers hope of a fightback. But Palace’s Eze was taken down in the box in the 66th minute to earn a penalty, and stepped up himself to put the spot kick past Fabianski.
The Hammers cut the difference to one goal again in the 72nd minute when Aguerd got his head onto the end of a corner kick in a crowded box.
West Ham had a great chance to level in injury time in another goalmouth scramble, but Palace keeper Sam Johnstone corralled the ball out of trouble as his side held on for the win.
Meanwhile, Brighton & Hove Albion crushed a woeful Wolverhampton Wanderers 6-0 yesterday, with Deniz Undav, Pascal Gross and Danny Welbeck scoring two goals each to earn the Seagulls their biggest victory.
In another game, Brentford deepened Nottingham Forest's relegation worries with a 2-1 home win after Ivan Toney and Josh Dasilva scored late second-half goals to leave the visitors a point above the drop zone.
The result leaves Forest in 17th with 30 points, above Leicester City in 18th and 19th-placed Everton (28 points) who play each other tomorrow. Brentford are ninth with 50 points.
Reuters
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