West Ham 1-2 Crystal Palace
by Paul Donovan
at London Stadium

THIS was a game where West Ham were made to pay by a robust Crystal Palace team for wasting so many chances. 

If the home side had been more clinical, Palace would have been dead and buried by the fourth quarter.

Instead, the missed chances meant the South Londoners got back into the game and finished up taking all the points back across the river.

On the half hour, Sebastian Haller managed only to hit the Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guait, having collected an inch perfect cross from Andriy Yarmolenko.

The keeper then saved a Felipe Anderson header and saw a Manuel Lanzini shot skid past the post.

Another Anderson cross hit James McArthur and bounced back off the keeper.

Palace’s main effort of the half was a James McCarthy shot from 20 yards that home keeper Roberto pushed round the post. 

West Ham’s endeavour was rewarded in the second half, when a flowing move saw Haller this time put away the cross from Ryan Fredericks.

A few minutes later Palace were back level, when Declan Rice was judged to have handled a cross. Patrick Van Aanholt converted the penalty.

Palace appeared to be running down the clock, when on a break away, the cross came in from Andros Townsend with a knock back from Van Aanholt duly converted by Jordan Ayew.

Home fans roared approval as the goal was ruled out for offside, only to have their hopes dashed when VAR saw that decision reversed.

Surprisingly, West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini was not overly disappointed with the performance.

“We needed to create more and should have had a better result,” said Pellegrini.

Palace manager Roy Hodgson felt his team were good value for the win. 

“We didn’t win because West Ham were bad but [because] we were good,” said Hodgson, who described the Premier League season as a marathon, a race that he felt his side will need some reinforcements in the January transfer window to keep up the pace. 

“The Premier League gets stronger all the time,” said Hodgson.