West Ham completed a remarkable comeback to claim all three points with a 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace in an all-London affair at the London Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday.
Crystal Palace opened the scoring six minutes into the game, James McArthur putting away James Tomkins’ headed flick-on from Patrick van Aanholt’s free-kick.
West Ham had more of the ball in the first half and had a few good chances to claw their way back into the game but Lucas Perez scuffed his shot across the face of the goal from close range.
Crystal Palace could have had another goal before halftime when Luka Milivojevic rattled the top of the crossbar from a brilliant free-kick from 25 yards out.
With the Eagle leading 1-0 at the break, the onus was on Manuel Pellegrini’s men to turn things around in the second half and they responded in a fine manner. Robert Snodgrass cut onto his left foot from the right and found the back of Wayne Hennessey’s set with a wonderful strike from the edge of the box to restore parity for the hosts.
West Ham kept pressing for the lead and they soon found it. Felipe Anderson’s curling free-kick was parried away but Hennessey but Javier Hernandez came up with a typical poacher’s goal, timing his run to perfection and hitting the top of the net with an emphatic finish.
With momentum on their side, West Ham showed the intent to get another goal and their efforts soon paid the dividends. Javier Hernandez set up Felipe Anderson who cut onto his favourite right foot from the left and scored with a delightful curling effort to put the game to bed.
The game looked dead and buried but Palace found a lifeline in the 76th-minute, substitute Jeffrey Schlupp beating Andy Carroll with his jump and heading it in from Max Meyer’s inch-perfect cross from the left.
Palace west into an ultra-attacking mode to find a late equaliser but Roy Hodgson’s men lacked that final spark and cohesion in the attacking third to make the most of the openings.
West Ham held on to their lead to register their third consecutive win in the Premier League and moved into the top ten for the first time this season while Crystal Palace stayed 16th in the standings, just a couple of points clear of the relegation zone.