West Ham United 1-1 Crystal Palace. Odsonne Edouard’s second-half finish salvaged a Premier League point for Crystal Palace against West Ham at London Stadium.
Mohammed Kudus had opened the scoring for the Hammers after 13 minutes.
James Ward-Prowse’s sublime cross-field ball was collected by Vladimir Coufal, whose cutback into the box was converted thanks to a first-time finish from the onrushing Kudus.
The Hammers were in complete control but Konstantinos Mavropanos was caught out when his poor back pass was intercepted by Edouard, who slotted home to equalise for Palace, scoring his sixth league goal of the season.
Mavropanos had the chance to make amends for his earlier mistake when he rose to meet a ball into the box but his header landed just wide of the far post.
Pablo Fornals’ cross was met by Jarrod Bowen in added time but it could only land in the grateful arms of away goalkeeper Sam Johnstone as West Ham had to settle for a point.
West Ham could have made it three consecutive league wins but were unable to make the most of their opportunities against Palace.
Mavrapanos’ error was West Ham’s only lapse in concentration throughout the match but it proved costly with David Moyes’ side unable to find another opening.
England forward Bowen, back in the starting line-up after suffering a minor knee issue during the international break, got beyond Joachim Andersen but was unable to lift the ball over Johnstone for the required finish.
Kudus was in the thick of the action, regularly troubling the Palace defence and he thought he had a second for the hosts just after the break but it was ruled out for offside with Tomas Soucek deemed to be interfering with play and in the eyeline of Johnstone.
Lucas Paqueta whipped in a brilliant ball at the back post but Emerson was unable to sort his feet out and ended up blazing it over the bar.
A worrying trend continued for West Ham, who have now lost 12 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, with only Burnley (14) losing more.
Moyes told BBC Sport: “It was a really tight Premier League game. We got in front but gave away a horrendous goal.
“Sometimes in these games, you just have to see it out, but I have to say we made two or three chances at the end which on another day we might have scored.
“It wasn’t our best point, it wasn’t our best performance but we will take something from the game.”
Palace, who had lost four of their previous five league games, did not manage a shot on target in the first half, despite a decent start – Edouard hooking a volley wide in the 12th minute as he was unable to shift his body position.
Within a minute of that miss, they were behind, and battling to find a way back. Michael Olise, recently returned from a hamstring injury, was Palace’s main threat but struggled to create much of note. A threaded pass through to Edouard was cut out as the Frenchman tried to move his side further up the pitch.
Jordan Ayew, in for the injured Eberechi Eze, skewed an effort well wide, and Tyrick Mitchell put in a poor cross from a promising position, while an Andersen free-kick hit the West Ham wall and deflected out for a corner.
Roy Hodgson’s side have not scored in the first half in 11 of their 14 matches, with only newly promoted Luton Town (13) and Sheffield United (12) failing to score more often.
Edouard did find an equaliser early in the second half, but Palace’s lack of cutting edge was laid bare as their last shot of the match was taken by Olise in the 55th minute.
A midweek match against Bournemouth is followed by fixtures against high-flying Liverpool and Manchester City, which will require Palace to be much sharper.
Hodgson told BBC Sport: “I thought for large parts of the game, especially the bulk of the first half in particular,we actually played well. We established a lot of control and the game was even during that period.
“I think their [West Ham’s] first attempt in our penalty area put them 1-0 up but where we really had to show resilience was at the end – because the 1-1 is basically there for you, you’ve earned it but unfortunately on the back of two bad results, the anxiety tends to creep in.
“Hats off to the players. I hope they’re satisfied with their performance and I hope they get some confidence from it because I certainly got some confidence from the team’s performance today.”
source – BBC
