0 Crystal Palace
1 West Ham
by Maamun Hajmahmoud
at Selhurst Park

Manuel Lanzini’s well taken goal proved to be the difference between Palace and West Ham on Saturday as the Irons gained a desperately needed three points away at Selhurst Park.

After a run of five games unbeaten, playing at home against a team short on confidence, you would be forgiven for making the assumption that Palace would make the early stages difficult for their opponents.

This couldn’t be further from the truth as the hosts allowed their visitors to settle and with Hammers boss Slaven Bilic deploying a 3-5-2 formation, fullbacks Aaron Cresswell and Michail Antonio were able to benefit from the extra space available on the flanks.

The only goal of the game came about as Cresswell found himself with plenty of space on the left, he then delivered a fantastic ball across the face of the goal to which Lanzini neatly applied the finishing touches.

Palace boss Alan Pardew bemoaned his side’s sluggish opening period, saying: “I was disappointed with a lot of aspects of the game. We didn’t start well and they got a deserved lead. We had to make changes at half-time because weren’t playing with the fluidity as we have done.”

Palace seemed bereft of ideas, long balls to Christian Benteke were ineffective as Winston Reid and Angelo Ogbonna took turns expertly marshalling the Belgian. And when Palace had been rewarded with a lifeline back into the game, Benteke wasted the opportunity — much to his manager’s regret.

“It’s a crucial moment — I’m expecting him to score after the week he’s had. He puts the goalie on the floor, he does everything right except hit the target.”

Huge credit must be given to West Ham as they looked in control throughout. Bilic issued a rallying cry to his players in the post-match press conference explaining the expected standard of performance of his team.

“We lost the confidence a little bit, which is absolutely normal, and now we came back, we deserve it and now we can’t let it go. Of course there will be ups and downs and everything but this has to be our minimum.”