Report and free highlights as Tomas Soucek double cancels out Wilfried Zaha's early opener as Crystal Palace's poor form is extended to one win in 10; Craig Dawson and Michy Batshuayi also on target; West Ham go fourth with sixth victory in a row in 2021
Wednesday 27 January 2021 06:48, UK
Tomas Soucek's first-half double set West Ham on the way to move fourth in the table with a 3-2 win at Crystal Palace keeping up their 100-per-cent record in 2021.
The Czech midfielder became only the fifth of his countrymen to reach double figures in the Premier League courtesy of a bullet header (9) and a close-range finish from a free-kick (25).
His double mounted a rapid turnaround after the returning Wilfried Zaha had fired Palace ahead with less than three minutes on the clock, but the hosts would barely threaten until late on from that moment on.
Instead, Michail Antonio twice hit the woodwork before Craig Dawson scored his first Premier League goal for the Hammers (66) to extend his side's winning run to six games and lift them to the unthinkable heights of fourth, even with Michy Batshuayi's injury-time consolation (90+6) providing a minor blot on their copy book.
Crystal Palace's continued statistical reliance on Zaha may well be a frustration to Roy Hodgson, but it was apparent again inside three minutes as he took a pass in his stride excellently before holding off a challenge and stroking the ball inside Fabianski's near post.
The talisman's return could only do so much though. At the other end, a wonderful clipped ball from Pablo Fornals found Antonio on the byline, and his flick was perfect for Soucek to power home an equaliser from close range with less than 10 minutes on the clock.
The start was frantic and end-to-end but even with that, as Soucek again beat Vicente Guaita when turning Aaron Cresswell's free-kick home from on the byline, the game became the first for nearly four years in which all of the opening three shots had resulted in goals.
That goal was enough to drop Palace heads and right from kick-off, Antonio could have doubled the lead from Cheikhou Kouyate's underhit pass but smacked the base of the far post with Guaita beaten.
His night would continue to prove exasperating, but no more so than for Hodgson, whose side barely threatened for the rest of the half and were indebted to the post for again stopping Antonio turning in Cresswell's shanked effort.
With the ex-England manager's words still ringing in their ears, Palace did emerge briefly rejuvenated after half-time, but it was as fleeting as it had proven in the first half. After Eberechi Eze's through-ball had released Zaha and Lukasz Fabianski denied him from a tight angle, West Ham continued their onslaught and could soon have been further ahead.
It was Antonio next to be denied again, with Guaita again the hero to claw away his point-blank header from Said Benrahma's pinpoint cross.
Another header would soon seal victory though. Jarrod Bowen's corner was met by Dawson, exactly a week after he should have opened his account against West Bromwich Albion, and this time the Watford loanee made no mistake from six yards out.
West Ham sat back in the closing stages, and were eventually punished when Batshuayi fired home from close-range deep into added time, but the Hammers were left to gaze at the Premier League table come the full-time whistle, with only the two Manchester clubs and Leicester ahead of them in the table.
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson: "The positive was to get such a good start, but we didn't capitalise on it, far from it.
"I thought out first-half performance cost us dearly, and a goal from a corner kick to give them a two-goal advantage was obviously going to make any hopes we had of laying siege to their goal very difficult."
West Ham boss David Moyes: "I'm really pleased with the performance, and really pleased with coming back and how we played then. Maybe if we had our finishing boots on, we might have scored one or two more.
"I've sensed for a while that we're getting better with an improved team. But I think that we're not scratching the surface yet. I think we've got so much more we can give and so much more we can do. And so I'm hoping that improvement continues, and we can we can keep moving on. We can't promise that - but we're going to try and deliver it."
Who else? West Ham dominated the midfield battle almost throughout, and Soucek scored twice. Bar netting a hat-trick, which he wasn't far from doing on a couple of occasions, there's little more the big Czech midfielder could have done.
He got West Ham ticking, too, making more passes (58) than any of his team-mates and making as many tackles (4) and interceptions (3) than anyone else.
"He's someone who, when I think of great midfield players through the years, reminds me of John Wark, being Scottish, who used to make the box late and score with runs from deep," Moyes told his post-match press conference.
"I can't put him in a Steven Gerrard mould but players who get into the box and score goals are a great thing and he's that. He's old-fashioned in a way, but his attitude and commitment is second to none and he's a joy to work with."
Crystal Palace are back at Selhurst Park on Saturday when they host Wolves, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 2.30pm; Kick-off at 3pm.
West Ham are also on TV a day later, with their home game against Liverpool live on Super Sunday on Sky Sports Premier League from 4pm; Kick-off at 4.30pm.
