Crystal Palace 4-3 West Ham United
Premier League, Selhurst Park, Saturday 29 April 2023, 12.30pm BST
A frustrating afternoon at Selhurst Park saw West Ham United fall to a 4-3 defeat by Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
Tomáš Souček put the Hammers ahead inside ten minutes, although the Eagles roared back with three first-half goals through Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha and Jeffrey Schlupp.
Michail Antonio did leave the match poised at 3-2 by the break, but Eberechi Eze’s second-half penalty restored the Eagles' two-goal advantage, before Nayef Aguerd netted West Ham’s third of the afternoon late on.
The Irons would fall on the wrong side of a seven-goal thriller as a five-game unbeaten run on our travels ended in south London.
It took just nine minutes for West Ham to take the lead against Crystal Palace, although by full-time Tomáš Souček’s thunderous finish felt a lifetime away.
At a sun-soaked Selhurst Park, the Hammers’ ninth fixture of a busy April schedule all seemed to be going to plan when Jarrod Bowen’s corner was only half cleared by Michael Olise. The ball broke to Souček, who smashed home from close range, although the match quickly spun in the hosts’ favour, as the Eagles cut through a Hammers’ defence with ease, striking three goals in 15 minutes.
With a third of the first half played, regular West Ham nemesis Ayew netted his fifth career goal against the Irons. The No9 ran onto Olise’s through-ball and beat Łukasz Fabiański at his near post, before the returning Zaha was quickly into the action and back amongst the goals.
Again, Olise was the provider. His cross flicked off Angelo Ogbonna, an early replacement for the injured Kurt Zouma, and found Zaha, who smashed home Palace’s second from inside the six-yard box. Palace would continue with third on the half an hour mark too, as Souček had his pocket picked by Schlupp, who was left unopposed to run through and find the net.
And with Fabiański beaten for a third time, Palace looked out of sight already, although Antonio had other ideas, as once more the Irons struck from a set-piece. Nine minutes before the break, Emerson’s corner was flicked on by Souček. Antonio peeled to the back stick intelligently and headed home his 13th goal of the campaign.
As had been the case in the Hammers’ last two trips to Selhurst Park, five goals had been shared between the sides. This time, however, there were still 45 minutes to play.
At the interval, Moyes refreshed his left-hand side, with Emerson and Pablo Fornals replaced by Saïd Benrahma and Aaron Cresswell. The duo were into the action quickly, with Benrahma finding Bowen. The No20 saw his cross cleared, however.
Palace pushed as well after the interval, looking to stretch their lead to two. Olise let fly from a distance, with his curling effort tipped over the bar by Fabiański, before the Eagles pressure told. Eze tricked his way into the area and was brought down by Aguerd. Eze then put the resulting spot-kick into the bottom corner.
David Moyes introduced Danny Ings, with just over 20 minutes to be played, as Paquetá was the player to make way. And once more, the Hammers found a way back into the fixture through a corner. Souček flicked on Bowen’s corner and saw Aguerd head home from close range. With 15 minutes to go, it was game on – again.
The Hammers toiled in the sun but could not fashion a late chance. Cresswell’s corner was cleared, before Coufal’s long throw bounced around in the area, and ultimately fell into the hands of Palace stopper Sam Johnstone.
And as Benrahma’s late cross sailed over those in Claret and Blue deep into injury time, West Ham were unable to find a fourth in south London and fell to just a third defeat in 12 matches.
Crystal Palace: Johnstone, Mitchell, Guéhi, Andersen, Ward, Schlupp, Doucouré (Milivojevic 90+4), Eze, Olise, Zaha (Édouard 83), Ayew
Subs not used: Guaita (GK), Tomkins, Lokanga, Mateta, Hughes, Richards, Riedewald
Goals: Ayew 15 Zaha 20 Schlupp 30 Eze 63
Booked: Ayew
West Ham United: Fabiański, Coufal, Zouma (Ogbonna 19), Aguerd, Emerson (Cresswell 46), Rice ©, Paquetá (Ings 69), Bowen, Antonio (Cornet 89), Fornals (Benrahma 46)
Subs not used: Areola (GK), Lanzini, Downes, Kehrer
Goals: Souček 9 Antonio 39 Aguerd 72
Booked: Souček Coufal
Referee: Craig Pawson
