Celebration time? It should have been for both teams. Helmed by the Premier League’s two oldest managers, Crystal Palace and West Ham United kicked off having seemingly concluded their respective flirtations with demotion and in a position to express themselves without fear.
After a contest which, for all the closeness of the scoreline, was a one-sided affair, Crystal Palace have reached the traditional guarantee of safety that is 40-points, with a bravura – and, yes, celebratory – performance. Unlike West Ham.
“I pride myself on my teams being hard to play against and hard to beat,” lamented David Moyes, the West Ham manager. “Today we were neither hard to play against nor hard to defeat. We didn’t play well, but nobody should under-estimate how well Crystal Palace played”
For all that they scored three goals, each from a poorly defended corner, West Ham had failed to read the safety script and, following on from Wednesday’s defeat to Liverpool, they have managed to dump themselves back in the relegation ferment.
Whether it was fear or complacency or the difficulty to link sole striker Michail Antonio with those theoretically supporting him, West Ham were second best.
The four goals they conceded reeked of complacency rather than fear. Tomas Soucek and Kurt Zouma were too slow to grasp the dangers for the first time. And Nayaf Aguerd played a part in the final three: helping on Michael Olise’s cross for the returning Wilfried Zaha to tap in the second; casually losing possession to Jeffrey Schlupp for the third and pulling down Eberechi Ezi for the penalty which brought the fourth.
The Moroccan will have had better days, he cannot have had a few worse, although Moyes, who had railed against Var on Wednesday had some sympathy vis-à-vis the penalty: “it looked soft. I really don’t know when Var comes in and when they don’t”.
In contrast, after a start delayed by turnstiles issues (“that really didn’t help us,” mused Moyes), Palace cast off their shackles to become the giddy footballing equivalent of Paris 1944: freedom and joy coursing through their every action in the wake of a tricky period. They scored three before the break and were a rampant attacking force with Olise outshining the rusty Zaha.
“We’re safe now,” said Roy Hodgson, the Crystal Palace manager who declined to discuss whether he’ll be at Palace next season, but who did have a fruitful conversation with the “amazing” Jason Sudeikis, aka Ted Lasso. “The game was more exciting than I would have liked, but we showed incredible energy. I couldn’t be more delighted.”
Once he had gifted West Ham their opener with a disastrous header across his own goal which Soucek gleefully swept in, Olise was the game’s pivotal figure. He didn’t score himself, but his perfectly judged through ball enabled Jordan Ayew to guide Palace’s first and his cross across the six-yard box ended with Zaha’s finish.
Elsewhere, Olise was rampant, forcing the unhappy Emerson’s half-time withdrawal and tormenting West Ham’s defense as Zaha shed his rustiness to induce Vladimir Coufal into a yellow-card challenge. “He’s just too good for you,” trilled the home support. It was hard to argue.
Once the goals started to roll in, Palace looked home and hosed. Too often shambolic in defense, West Ham withered under the onslaught of Palace’s attacking prowess, their cacophonous support and the weight of their own confusion.
Their path ahead is far from clear. West Ham have Europe to juggle, alongside Premier League games with both Manchester teams and fellow strugglers Leeds United and Leicester City.
What seemed quite simple at kick off now looks rather more complicated.