West Ham 3-2 Crystal Palace: Hammers pile more pressure on Roy Hodgson

Goals from Roberto Snodgrass, Chicharito and Felipe Anderson completed a miserable week for Crystal Palace and Roy Hodgson as West Ham came from behind at win 3-2 at the London stadium.

Palace, who lost horribly to 10-man arch rivals Brighton on Tuesday, had led 1-0 at half-time through James McArthur but the introduction of Andy Carroll at the break swung the game the Hammers’ way to leave more question marks about the 71-year-old’s future at Selhurst Park.

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Manuel Pellegrini made three changes with striker Lucas Perez rewarded for his double strike in midweek, replacing the injured Marco Arnautovic and starting alongside Javier Hernandez up front.

Michail Antonio also scored in midweek but was replaced by Pablo Zabaleta at right-back with Fabian Balbuena for Angelo Obgbonna in central defence the other change.

Palace were unchanged for the fourth game in a row despite a horrendous display at rivals Brighton on Tuesday that saw them go down 3-1 at the Amex.

Wayne Hennessey was called into action in the opening few minutes to deny Chicharito at his feet and it was a crucial block as the Eagles went right down the other end and opened the scoring.

Former Hammer James Tomkins flicked on Patrick van Aanholt’s deep free-kick and James McArthur lost his man to poke home beyond Lukasz Fabianski. It was the Scot’s second goal in three games, the same ratio he managed in his previous 29.

In front of a quiet home crowd at the London Stadium, West Ham toiled but found it hard to break Palace down. There were faint shouts for handball as Arthur Masuaku’s cross was blocked by a combination of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luka Milivojevic but referee Anthony Taylor looked unimpressed.

Declan Rice headed a corner over but chances were at a premium for the home side against a team who looked determined to hold onto their lead. Clearly, Palace had learnt from their capitulation at Brighton in mid-week.

The home fans weren’t impressed with Palace’s time-wasting tactics and wanted a foul when Van Aanholt won the ball but his knees followed through on Zabaleta. Both, though, nothing out of the ordinary.

It could have been 2-0 right on half-time as Milivojevic’s free-kick beat Fabianski but hammered back off the bar, as the home crowd grew more and more irate at their side giving away the ball and cheap fouls.

Pellegrini decided a change was needed at the break and brought on Andy Caroll for the disappointing Perez, hoping for a repeat of the big man’s bicycle wonder striker here against the Eagles two years ago.

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It had the desired effect as just three minutes into the second half Robert Snodgrass found space to curl in an excellent effort from 20 yards out, just inside Hennessey’s near post.

And it was nearly 2-1 to the home side five minutes later as Zabaleta’s drive from distance took a wicked deflection off Mamadou Sakho and beat Hennessey but also the post, diverting out for a corner.

Palace were forced into a change ahead of that set-piece as Van Aanholt, carrying and injury since he went through Zabaleta in the first half, couldn’t continue and was replaced by Jeffrey Schlupp.

The Eagles came close to extending their lead when Meyer capitalised on uncertainty in the West Ham box and poked towards goal from three yards out only to be denied by Fabianksi at point blank range.

West Ham went straight down the other end and took the lead as substitute Carroll won a dubious free-kick where it appeared his kicked his own leg under pressure from Tomkins. Felipe Anderson’s resulting set-piece was parried into the path of the unmarked Chicharito by Hennessey and he converted.

It was 3-1 minutes later as Anderson curled home a magical third from wide left, giving Hennessey no chance and seemingly putting the game to bed.

With 15 minutes to go Palace gave themselves a slim chance of getting something as substitute Schlupp headed Meyer’s cross into the net to make it 3-2.

But the equaliser never came though and the Eagles capped a terrible week to leave more pressure on Hodgson as questions about his future at Selhurst Park intensify.