Crystal Palace and West Ham shared the factors after a goalless draw at Selhurst Park, in a match that lacked a lot pleasure however resulted in Wolves being relegated from the Premier League.
There was a nervous edge from the outset, with each side struggling to ascertain any rhythm. Palace noticed early possession with out creating something of notice, whereas West Ham regarded the extra purposeful when shifting ahead, notably down the correct flank.
The perfect alternatives of the primary half fell to the guests. Konstantinos Mavropanos got here closest to breaking the impasse when he met a harmful supply contained in the six-yard field, solely to be denied by a pointy response save from Dean Henderson.
They need to have gone in entrance quickly after. A free second within the Palace defence left Valentin Castellanos with a transparent sight of objective, however fairly than choosing a easy end, he tried an formidable overhead kick.
Brennan Johnson confirmed flashes of intent and got here closest for the hosts, curling narrowly extensive from distance, however his closing decision-making usually let him down.
A lot of Palace’s play broke down earlier than it might grow to be something significant within the closing third.
Comparable patterns within the second half
The second half adopted an identical sample. West Ham continued to look the extra possible aspect, having fun with spells of strain and delivering a gradual stream of crosses into the field, although with out discovering a decisive contact.
Palace, for his or her half, struggled to construct sustained assaults, as an alternative counting on moments in transition that hardly ever troubled the visiting defence.
Because the match wore on, the tempo dipped and the sport grew to become more and more fragmented. Substitutions from each managers didn’t inject urgency, and a way grew that one second, fairly than sustained strain, can be wanted to separate the perimeters.
That second appeared to reach late on when Ismaila Sarr discovered the web from shut vary, sparking celebrations among the many residence help.
Nevertheless, these have been shortly reduce brief, with the referee ruling out the objective for handball within the build-up by Jean-Philippe Mateta after a quick verify.
West Ham pushed for a late winner and have been handed one closing likelihood deep into stoppage time with a nook, however Palace defended properly to clear their traces.
The purpose strikes the Hammers two away from Tottenham, however each side will really feel prefer it was a missed alternative.
