Crystal Palace 2-3 West Ham: Hammers go fourth thanks to Tomas Soucek brace and Craig Dawson header

After collecting the manager of the year award three times when he was Everton, David Moyes is making a convincing challenge for number four.

When he returned to West Ham in December 2019, Moyes found a club drifting towards the Championship. 

In less than 13 months, he has transformed them into a hugely impressive unit, solid at the back and dangerous in attack, full of graft and craft. When the final whistle went at Selhurst Park, West Ham were in the top four, a point above Liverpool. What a turnaround it has been and Moyes – above anyone – deserves credit for it.

West Ham came from behind to beat Crystal Palace 3-1 to move into fourth place 

Wilfried Zaha put Palace ahead in the third minute with a shot from just outside the area

Tomas Soucek pulled the Hammers level with a header from a Michail Antonio cross

Soucek put his side 2-1 ahead with a finish at the back post after an Aaron Cresswell cross

His team fell behind in the third minute to Wilfried Zaha’s goal and then dominated the next 87. The outstanding Tomas Soucek’s first-half double put them in front, with Craig Dawson heading a deserved third midway through the second half. Michail Antonio hit the post twice and could have had four goals. Substitute Michy Batshuayi pulled a goal back in the final minute of stoppage time but anything less than a West Ham win would have been a travesty.

This was a dispiriting evening for Palace, who have won only one of their last nine matches. Roy Hodgson’s teams are usually tough to play against even when below their best and the former England manager would have been worried about how little his team competed.

Palace had not scored for more than four hours before this game but they needed only three minutes to end the drought. Zaha played a one-two with Christian Benteke on the edge of the penalty area and drove a low effort beyond Lukasz Fabianski and into the bottom corner. 

Yet West Ham are brimming with confidence and it took them only six minutes to draw level. Pablo Fornals clipped the ball into the box where Antonio lifted it across for Soucek, who ended a surging run from midfield by heading the equaliser from close range.

With Soucek, Declan Rice and Said Benrahma dominating the central area of the pitch, it was no surprise when the Hammers took the lead. Aaron Cresswell’s free-kick from the left just escaped Antonio’s head before Soucek collected it at the far post and squeezed the ball home from a narrow angle.

Palace were all over the place at this stage and they were lucky not to go 3-1 down immediately. Receiving the ball from the kick-off, former Hammers player Cheikhou Kouyate underhit his attempted back-pass, sending Antonio clear. The strike beat Vicente Guaita but rebounded off the inside of the post to safety.

The Croatian midfielder now has seven goals in the Premier League this season

Antonio could have had a hat-trick after hitting the post twice and missing another chance

West Ham continued to create chances. Cresswell robbed Andros Townsend and Fornals seized on the loose ball to release Soucek, whose hat-trick attempt was weak and too close to Guaita. With options to his left and right, Benrahma fired well wide from 30 yards and earned a tongue-lashing from Moyes for his error. ‘Said, come on!’ bellowed the Scot.

Antonio then struck the post for a second time six minutes before the break. Fornals dummied Benrahma’s cross and Cresswell’s angled drive was prodded goalwards by Antonio, only for the woodwork to rescue Palace again.

Having had little to do in the first half, Fabianksi kept the visitors in front early in the second with a fine double save from Zaha, who went clean through but could not beat the Pole on either occasion.

Then the match was delayed for three minutes after a clash of heads between Palace team-mates Kouyate and Gary Cahill as they went for the same ball, though both were cleared to continue.

Craig Dawson made it 3-1 with a header from a Jarrod Bowen corner in the 65th minute

The centre back beat Palace defender Gary Cahill to the ball to power his header into the net

On another day, Antonio could have had a hat-trick. After he was twice denied by the frame of the goal, only he will know how he didn’t make it three just before the hour mark, when his point-blank effort was somehow clawed away by Guaita following more good work from Benrahma. Moments later, Guaita made another impressive stop to keep out Jarrod Bowen and shortly afterwards Cahill blocked a goalbound effort from Antonio.

But West Ham were not to be denied for much longer. In the 65th minute Bowen’s delivery from the corner was perfect and Dawson did the rest, rising to power a header beyond Guaita.

Antonio’s frustration finally got the better of him when another chance went begging, this time the forward sticking out his foot to divert Bowen’s wayward effort past the post. As the ball slid wide, Antonio screamed and pumped his fists in anger. Batshauyi’s neat stoppage-time finish notwithstanding, it is fair to assume Antonio would have been smiling in the end.

Michy Batshuayi scored a late consolation for Roy Hodgson’s side in stoppage time