Crystal Palace 4-3 West Ham: Zaha scores on return, Eagles record fourth win under Roy Hodgson

Crystal Palace kept up their fine form at the Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon, beating a relegation-avoiding West Ham 4-3 in a dramatic seven-goal thriller to record their tenth win of the season and fourth with Roy Hodgson as manager.

The hosts went down by a goal in the ninth minute. Jarrod Bowen"s cross swung into the crowded Palace box, Michael Olise responded with a terrible header, the ball fell kindly for Tomas Soucek who fired a left-footed shot into the net amidst the heavy traffic.

Olise got some sort of retribution ln the other end of the pitch few minutes later as Palace found an equaliser. The Frenchman in the midst of a couple of West Ham defenders, released Jordan Ayew dangerously in the box with a nice pass. Ayew fired at Fabianski"s near post, beating the keeper"s dive.

The Eagles went ahead in the 20th minute, Wilfried Zaha scoring his first goal on his return from injury. Olise"s pass into the box from the right was aimed at Jordan Ayew, the ball came off Nayef Aguerd"s foot awkardly and Zaha tapped into an empty net.

Palace got their third of the evening, capitalizing on a defensive error from the opponents. Coming off Aguerd"s pass to Soucek, Jeffrey Schlupp forced a turnover, dispossessing Soucek. Schlupp found himself in a one-on-one position and simply put the ball in the back of the net by playing through Fabianski"s legs.

West Ham then pulled one back five minutes later. Emerson swung a cross into the Palace area, Soucek got an header to it and Michail Antonio got the last say, delivering an header of his for West Ham"s second of the evening.

Palace restored their two-goal cushion eighteen minutes into the second half. Eberechi Eze"s dangerous run into the box was stopped by Nayef Aguerd. The former stepped up to the resulting penalty, sliding it down the right and into Fabianski"s net.

The visitors then reduced the lead to a one-goal margin in the 72nd minute but Roy Hodgson"s Palace ultimately claimed the win at the Selhurst Park.

What"s next?

Palace"s win sees them move to eleventh with 40 points, a point ahead of Chelsea who have 39, however, with two games in hand. The Eagles have very nearly punched their tickets to another season of Premier League football as the 4-3 victory puts them eleven points ahead of the relegation zone.

For West Ham, the battle continues. After two consecutive losses, the Hammers are five points away from the demotion zone. A win from either Leicester or Everton over the other would see that cut to two points. Moyes" men have an arduous task, some grinding to do if Championship football is to be avoided next season.

Main image credit Embed from Getty Images