Midway through the second period, West Ham went a lick of paint away from retaking the lead as Sakho’s header came back off the base of the upright.
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“The first challenge from Dwight is a bad challenge and a yellow card”, Pardew admitted. I thought the game deserved that. Nowadays the expectations are quite different due to the excellent start they have had and their astute manager – Alan Pardew – who is making things happen and is being touted as a possible future England manager.
But will West Ham boss Slaven Bilic play Valencia today?
West Ham’s fans can finally dare to dream about a Champions League place when they move into their new home at the Olympic Stadium next season, sitting in fourth place with the scalps of Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool secured before this victory.
The Eagles should have spotted the warning signs early on, but ultimately struggled to limit the player’s influence. The 22-year-old – a summer signing from Al Jazira – set his intentions early on, coming close to providing the opening goal for Payet, only for the Frenchman to fail to connect with his low cross just two minutes into the first half. Marouane Chamakh offered Palace a potential route back in to the game when he netted shortly after half-time, but the killer blow was landed by Carlton Cole’s 62nd minute effort.
Sorely missed in the Socceroos’ engine room as they slumped to a shock 2-0 Federation Internationale de Football Association World Cup qualifying loss to Jordan last week, the 31 year old midfield general scored the victor for the Eagles from the penalty spot the last time they faced the Hammers. Cabaye repeated the trick. The game remained level at the break.
Palace made a change at the start of the second half replacing Zaha with Bakary Sako.
– Carl Jenkinson has two goals in seven Premier League apps this season, compared to one in 69 PL apps before this campaign.
West Ham have held a better hand in the previous meetings as they have won 12 compared to Palace’s 7 wins. “Every one of their attackers runs behind without the ball”.
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Despite looking likely to hang on for a very hard-fought point, the home side’s heroic defensive efforts were for nothing after Manuel Lanzini’s 88th minute strike was added to by Dimitri Payet soon after.
