A double from West Ham’s star man Tomas Soucek made it six wins in a row for David Moyes high flying West Ham.
The away side continue their run of winning every game since the start of 2021, jumping above Liverpool into fourth place in the Premier League.
The two sides met just before Christmas and shared the points in a tight game, where Christian Benteke scored before later being sent off.
The first chance of the game fell to Wilfried Zaha after just two minutes on the edge of the West Ham penalty area after some intricate play, with the Nigerian forward firing into the bottom left corner of the goal past Lukasz Fabianski.
Just five minutes later the Hammers replied levelling the game through their top scorer Soucek.
A brilliant ball over the Palace defence by Pablo Fornals found Michail Antonio who managed to keep the ball in play by looping the ball into the six-yard box for the Czech to head home for his sixth goal of the season.
A silly foul given away by Palace 30 yards from goal presented the Hammers’ set-piece specialist Aaron Cresswell with an opportunity to put the ball into the box.
The ball was whipped in beautifully by Cresswell with Soucek arriving at the back post, controlling the ball on his knee then squeezing his volley in at the near post past Guita.
West Ham nearly scored again straight from Palace’s kick off after former West Ham player Cheikhou Kouyate played a short pass which Antonio latched onto.
The striker sped away from the Palace baring down on goal, however his shot was scuffed and struck the post.
Chaos in the Palace box as the ball was pulled back to Fornals who dummies for Cresswell to fire at goal – the fullback’s shot was wayward, but Antonio nearly scored again after sticking out a leg with his shot again bouncing off the post.
Palace had a great early opportunity in the second half, Eberechi Eze picked up a loose ball and carried it forward before releasing it to Zaha, whose shot was saved by Fabianski who was quick of his line to spread himself and block the shot.
A third opportunity for Antonio to score after Said Benrahma’s delivery across the face of goal, but Guita was positioned perfectly and made an excellent save to deny the visitors a third goal.
Just after the 65-minute mark West Ham were rewarded for their dominant display when Craig Dawson’s bullet header rippled the net after Jarrod Bowen’s in swinging corner.
Just five minutes before the end of the game the home side had an opportunity to put West Ham under pressure with James McArthur’s long range strike firing just inches over the bar.
In the final seconds of the game a smooth flick from Zaha into the path of Michy Batshuyai who fired through the legs of Cresswell past Fabianksi, this proved to be the final kick of the game as the referee blew for full-time.
With their win tonight, it’s six consecutive victories for David Moyes side as they move up to fourth in the league ahead of reigning Premier League champions Liverpool.
For Crystal Palace it’s just one win in their last nine games with Roy Hodgson’s men struggled to capitalise on their early lead.
By Fraser Day
