West Ham climbed into the top half of the Premier League table thanks to a 3-2 win over local rivals Crystal Palace. Goals from Robert Snodgrass, Chicharito, and Felipe Anderson sealed the Hammers third win in a row, and consigned the Eagles to back to back losses in five days.
Palace took an early lead through James McArthur who scored his second goal in three games; the Scot found himself in the centre of the box with the ball at his feet after James Tomkins flicked on a free-kick. McArthur slotted past Lukasz Fabianski, scoring Palace’s quickest goal of the season so far. The visitors continued to be on top for the remainder of the first half.
That narrow lead did not last long as a resurgent Snodgrass collected a headed clearance on the edge of the box and swiftly curled the ball into the near side of the goal, past the despairing Wayne Hennessey, to score his first league goal for West Ham. It was his first Premier League goal for over 700 days, having last scored in January 2017 for Hull City.
The home side then scored two goals in as many minutes to complete and reinforce the comeback. Firstly, Hernandez taught a poaching masterclass, the Mexican timed his run to perfection, latching onto the ball first after Hennessey’s spilt Anderson’s free-kick, duly hammering it over the Welshman into the roof of the net. Next, Anderson got the goal his Man of the Match performance deserved, as he tried to outdo Snodgrass’ effort in the first half. This time on the left side corner of the box, he curled a lovely shot into the far corner, as Hennessey dived in vain watching the ball soar over him.
Palace would get one back through a Max Meyer cross headed past Fabianski by Jeffrey Schlupp, to make it an edgy conclusion, but West Ham held out and sent the home fans happy and looking forward to the Fulham game next week.
Palace Making it Hard…Again.
If it’s one thing Palace do best, it’s having a poor first half of the season, and giving themselves everything to do in the second half in an effort to stay up. They have now had three games against sides in and around them after the horror run of October, and they’ve won just one of them. It was the first game against Burnley when they really turned on the style and ran out comfortable 2-0 winners. But then came bitter rivals Brighton, where they put in a weak and frankly embarrassing performance that forced some of the players to apologise to fans on social media.
So you’d think they’d want to bounce back from that crushing 3-1 defeat and when better than in a London Derby. To be fair to them, they were the better side in the first half and were deserved leaders going into halftime, but that all changed after the break. Unable to contain the likes of Anderson and Chicharito, the comeback was inevitable and it’s another journey home to Selhurst with nothing to show for their efforts. A couple of difficult fixtures coming up now with the Foxes travelling down to South London, then Palace have the unenviable task of going to the home of the champions. It looks like it’ll be a tricky Christmas period for the Eagles, that could quickly turn into a bleak winter if results don’t change for the better.
Anderson Finally Settled?
Going into the game, it seemed like the match would be decided on who could be more influential between Felipe Anderson and Wilfried Zaha. Both of them play an attractive style of football that can entertain the crowds but are equally capable of causing frustration if they have an off day. It may have taken a few weeks for the Brazilian to settle in East London, but it looks like he’s finally starting to flourish.
Anderson, along with the rest of his Hammer teammates, had a sloppy first half but came out after the break a different player. He became more threatening than his Ivorian counterpart, peppering the Palace goal with shot after shot. His influence finally told, as he curled a classy shot into the top corner past Hennessey, mere minutes after seeing his free-kick parried to the feet of Chicharito. He’s now bagged six goals and contributed to another two for his teammates, and is taking on that mantle of West Ham’s biggest attacking threat in the absence of Arnautovic.
Chicharito Steps into Arnautovic Shoes
Another player who is starting to shine in the absence of the Austrian striker is the almost forgotten figure of Javier Hernandez. A signing that seemed like a massive coup for the East Londoners in the summer of 2017, the Mexican arguably failed to live up to the hype last season, bagging just the eight goals. For most of this season, he has been a bit part player, with Pellegrini preferring to play the trio of Arnautovic, Anderson and Yarmalenko. However, with the season-ending injury for Yarmalenko, Chicharito has begun making more starts for the Hammers and has reaped the rewards.
In the last six league games, he’s picked up four goals and an assist, including a brace against Newcastle. The upturn in West Ham’s results is not surprising when you have a poacher like Chicharito recalibrating his eye for goal. We all knew he could be a real threat to Premier League defences when he returned, his record at Manchester United of 37 goals and 12 assists in 103 top flight games, a significant number of which were off the bench, is a reflection of which. With games against some of the defences towards the bottom of the league coming up, you’d bank on him grabbing some more before the New Year.
West Ham’s Winning Streak
Unlike their rivals from south of the river, West Ham are taking advantage of their improved run of fixtures. After their defeat in the game against Tottenham in late October, West Ham have picked up 14 points out of a possible 21. Their only defeat in that time was a 4-0 drumming away at rampant Manchester City, which has happened regularly this season. Ignoring the defeat to City, what they are doing is winning games against the teams around them, and the fixtures are only looking better heading into the New Year.
The Hammers do not face a side from the traditional ‘Big Six’ until after the FA Cup Third Round weekend, nearly two weeks after chimes of Big Ben have rung out across the capital. In that time they travel to the likes of Fulham, Southampton, and Burnley, and welcome Watford and Brighton to the London Stadium. In their current form, all these games are winnable for the Hammers, and if they managed to pick up the majority of points from these games, it would put them in good stead to challenge for the European places come the second half of the season.
