Crystal Palace scored four times in the first 31 minutes to thrash West Ham United in the Premier League and earn their second consecutive win following their 1-0 victory at title contenders Liverpool.
Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta all netted alongside an own-goal by Emerson Palmieri to put Oliver Glasner’s side out of sight in a blistering start at at Selhurst Park.
Michail Antonio pulled a goal back five minutes before the break but in-form Mateta scored his second 19 minutes into the second half as Palace, who are almost mathematically safe from relegation, rose to 13th in style.
West Ham scored a late consolation through Tyrick Mitchell’s own-goal as their miserable run continued following their Uefa Europa League exit, going out with a 1-1 draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday which was the only time they have avoided defeat in their last four matches.
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Palace v West Ham ‘so, so bad’ – Moyes
Leverkusen are undefeated this season, making West Ham’s draw against them a respectable result following their 2-0 defeat in Germany.
Hammers manager David Moyes was considerably less satisfied with his team’s dreadful start against Palace.
“We performed well on Thursday night and we took praise for that – but today was as bad as I remember it being for a long time,” said Moyes.
“We were atrocious and we got what we deserved. The first 30 minutes were awful. We came here to try to be hard to beat but the goals we conceded were extremely disappointing and we really shot ourselves in the foot.
James Ward-Prowse reacts to today’s defeat 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/lz2qBw94Vl
— West Ham United (@WestHam) April 21, 2024
“We didn’t defend and we hardly got forward. I don’t think we crossed the halfway line for the first 15-20 minutes.”
In the absence of injured top scorer Jarrod Bowen, West Ham are eighth in the table but have played at least one more game than the teams around them.
“We have no excuse,” said Moyes. “We’ve had a lot of games and we didn’t have Jarrod, but we knew that and we needed to come here and be better.
“As a Premier League Club, you have to have something about you. Every game is tough and we knew that coming here. But really it was just so, so bad.”
