Roy mission complete
ROY HODGSON’S Crystal Palace stormed to Premier League safety in a crazy seven-goal game – as West Ham stayed worryingly near the relegation zone.
This was Hodgson’s fourth win since returning to Palace with the brief to keep them up, giving them 40 points.
Palace chairman Simon
Parish had said no decision on the manager for next season could be made until their top-flight status was secured.
Afterwards Hodgson, 75, refused to give anything away. He said: “I’m not prepared to talk about it or make any comment. I’m going to enjoy this last month.
“I’m very proud of the team and always will be.yes, we’re safe. Now it’s up to them how they push on.”
Hammers boss David Moyes accepted his side were below par but was left fuming again by a controversial penalty decision.
In last Sunday’s 2-1 defeat by Liverpool, the Scot had flipped at VAR for not giving them a late penalty. Here, his anger focused on one awarded to Palace in the 66th minute, which crucially left his men 4-2 down.
Moyes, whose side are on 34 points ahead of a midweek trip to Manchester City, said: “The Premier League pride themselves on not giving soft penalties but that looked pretty soft.
“Normally, my teams are hard to beat but we weren’t today. I can’t say that we deserved anything but two huge decisions have now gone against us.”
Following a maximum nine points in his opening three games at the helm, Hodgson’s spell had faltered in the last fortnight – with a goalless draw against Everton and defeat at Wolves.
Palace’s previous six league games here were goalless at the break.any chance of a seventh on the spin was dead inside 10 minutes.
Good job the start was delayed by 15 minutes over turnstile issues – otherwise, those stuck outside would have missed a rare treat.
West Ham struck first when a corner was headed hopelessly by Michael Olise. His intended clearance fell to Tomas Soucek, who blasted the ball home.
A mortified Olise quickly made amends by producing a neat 14th-minute pass to send Jordan Ayew in for Palace’s equaliser.
Suddenly, it was all Palace and they were ahead six minutes later aswilfried Zaha was left unmarked to tap in Olise’s cross.
Palace were 3-1 up on the half hour. Soucek laboured in possession, allowing Jeffrey Schlupp to punish the mistake.
But it was far from over as within five minutes the samewest Ham player flicked on at the near post for Michail Antonio to reduce the arrears.
The chances of the second half matching the entertainment looked slim.yet it did.
Palace restored their two-goal cushion from the spot when Eberechi Eze was tugged by Nayef Aguerd, then scored the penalty.
In keeping with the pattern of making up for an earlier mistake, Aguerd immediately cut the deficit with a header. However, it proved to be little consolation for the troubled Hammers.
Johnstone 7; Ward 7, Andersen 7, Guehi 7, Mitchell 7; Olise 9, Doucoure 7 (Milivojevic (90) 5), Schlupp 8; Eze 8, Ayew 8, Zaha 8 (Edouard (83) 6).
Fabianski 6; Coufal 6, Zouma 6 (Ogbonna (19) 5), Aguerd 6, Emerson 5 (Cresswell (46) 6); Soucek 7, Rice 6; Bowen 6, Paqueta 6 (Ings (65) 6), Fornals 6 (Benrahma (45) 6); Antonio 7
MAN OF THE MATCH: MICHAEL OLISE – Palace’s French winger wiped out his early mistake with a super display.
C Pawson