ALAS poor Palace! But perhaps they had only themselves and the errant Dwight Gayle to blame.
With the score level at 1-1 and 44 minutes played, Palace striker Gayle recklessly committed the second of what you might call a centre-forward’s tackle. In other words, a clumsy and superfluous challenge which brought him the second of his yellow cards and consequent expulsion.
The first of those fouls was on West Ham’s Dimitri Payet, the second on Cheikhou Kouyate. From the moment of that second yellow card the die was fairly obviously cast, since West Ham had the whole of the second half to exploit their numerical advantage. That it took them until the 88th minute initially and belatedly to do so was a tribute to a Palace team which hung on with resourcefulness and commitment in what was increasingly a state of siege.
An odd fact of this game was that each side’s first goal involved West Ham’s right-back Carl Jenkinson. On the first occasion, he popped up most adventurously from left-back in an advanced inside-right position neatly, with precise timing, exploiting a through ball from Victor Moses with the home defence caught flat-footed and square. After what seemed like no time, there was Jenkinson at the other end on the edge of his own penalty box bringing down none other than the doomed Gayle, for Palace’s Yohan Cabaye to put away the twice taken penalty.
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The second half saw West Ham inevitably and largely in possession but creating surprisingly few real chances despite the talent in their attack. Twenty minutes into the half, a rare threat of a goal, Jenkinson crossed from the left and Diafra Sakho’s header grazed the post.
Thereafter, for all West Ham’s possession, they couldn’t make a real chance. It was Palace holding out in what would have come to a battle of attrition. Midway through the half, West Ham brought on the towering Andy Carroll to lead their attack. Palace can scarcely say they had not been warned since Pardew, once West Ham’s manager himself, had warned at an interview that Carroll would present a real threat with his power and skill in the air.
So he did in that 88th minute when Mauro Zarate, a fellow substitute, crossed, Carroll rose typically high to nod the ball back and though Nikica Jelavic tried without success to score, the ball ran to Manuel Lanzini, who duly put it away. Lanzini, an Argentine who began his career in Buenos Aires with River Plate, has proved this season to be a shrewd acquisition by West Ham. He was prominent throughout and made West Ham’s third just before stoppage time with an incisive through ball which was exploited by Payet, easily sidestepping Wayne Hennessey’s desperate lunge.
Pardew said: “We did brilliant in the second half.” The third goal by West Ham? “We were desperate trying to get it back. The resilience we showed in the second half was a good sign.” And, he reflected ruefully: “You can’t have anyone better than Andy Carroll on the far post. I thought the West Ham players were terrific.”
Slaven Bilic, West Ham’s manager, said: “We wanted to score the goal as soon as possible. You’ve got to play with two touches because with one touch the situation is you’re one against one... It’s not easy to score against a team who basically are defending with nine. But I think I was more pleased with our performance in the first half... To stay in the lead, that’s our first target.”
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Star man: Manuel Lanzini (West Ham United)
Crystal Palace: Hennessey 6, Kelly 6, Dann 7, Hangeland 7, Souaré 6, Cabaye 6 (Ledley, 6, 77min), McArthur 6 (Jedinak, 6, 63min), Zaha 6 (Sako, 5, 45min), Puncheon 6, Bolasie 6, Gayle 5
West Ham United: Adrian 6, Jenkinson 6, Tomkins 6, Collins 7, Cresswell 6, Kouyate 7, Noble 6 (Carroll 7, 62min), Moses 6 (Zarate, 6, 74min), Lanzini 8, Payet 7, Sakho 7 (Jelavic, 5, 85min)