Palace seal top flight status with win over West Ham
Crystal Palace effectively sealed their Premier League survival with a thrilling 4-3 win against West Ham that left their London rivals still in danger of relegation on Saturday. Roy Hodgson's side moved 11 points clear of the bottom three thanks to goals from Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha, Jeff Schlupp and Eberechi Eze at Selhurst Park. Palace have won four of their six matches since Hodgson returned for a second spell at the club in place of the sacked Patrick Vieira. Tomas Soucek, Michail Antonio and Nayef Aguerd were on the scoresheet for West Ham. But a second successive defeat leaves David Moyes' men five points above the relegation zone with daunting fixtures against Manchester City and Manchester United looming next week. West Ham were in front after just nine minutes when Michael Olise headed his attempted clearance of Jarrod Bowen's corner straight to Soucek and the midfielder fired home from close-range. Olise made amends for his blunder as Palace equalised six minutes later. Cheick Doucoure found Olise and the forward's superb pass picked out Ghana forward Ayew, whose first-time finish beat Lukasz Fabianski at the near post. Zaha was back in the Palace starting line-up for the first time in four games since Hodgson's return as manager at the start of April. The Ivory Coast forward rewarded Hodgson's decision as he netted Palace's second goal in the 20th minute with a composed strike from another dangerous Olise cross. West Ham's porous defence was breached again after half an hour, with Soucek carelessly losing possession on the edge of the area to Schlupp, who accepted the gift with a simple finish under the exposed Fabianski. There was no end to the first half goal spree as Antonio reduced the deficit with a close-range header after Soucek flicked on a corner in the 36th minute. Eze restored Palace's two-goal advantage in the 66th minute, converting a controversial penalty awarded for Aguerd's tug on his arm. Aguerd got one back for the Hammers in the 73rd minute, helping Soucek's header into the net from virtually on the line, but it was too late to rescue a point. Later on Saturday, fourth bottom Nottingham Forest will look to climb further away from the relegation zone when they travel to Brentford. Brighton can improve their prospects of qualifying for Europe next season if they beat Wolves at the Amex Stadium. (AFP)