Crystal Palace 0-2 West Ham United
Premier League, Selhurst Park, Saturday 24 August 2024, 3pm BST
Tomáš Souček and Jarrod Bowen scored the goals as West Ham United earned their first win of the 2024/25 Premier League season with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
The Hammers pair both struck in a stunning second half performance to give Julen Lopetegui’s charges full value for a wonderfully resilient display – one in which they refused to let Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace break through them.
Souček finished a move that involved West Ham debutant Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Bowen to give the Irons a 67th-minute lead, then Hammers captain Bowen finished emphatically to double the advantage five minutes later.
Niclas Füllkrug could have made it three in stoppage time, but could only fire into the side-netting from a tight angle.
Victory in south London gives Lopetegui his first win as West Ham boss and moves the Irons up to seventh in the early Premier League table.
Boss Lopetegui named an unchanged starting XI from the side that had narrowly lost on the opening day at home to Aston Villa, with Edson Álvarez welcomed back to the substitutes’ bench after recovering from a hamstring injury.
West Ham were harrying the Palace defenders in possession early, and almost opened the scoring inside three minutes when the unmarked Souček headed wide from Bowen’s corner.
At the other end two minutes later, Eberechi Eze’s shot deflected off Dinos Mavropanos and landed on the roof of the net.
Mohammed Kudus led the Irons’ response, hitting an angled drive inches wide of the left-hand post after being played in by Bowen before Maximilian Kilman headed wide at the end of an entertaining opening ten minutes.
Palace’s Eze should have given his side the lead after 14 minutes on the clock when he received a pass from Adam Wharton on the edge of the box, but the forward’s shot was too close to Alphonse Areola, who stuck out a leg to divert the ball away.
The home side were really pushing now, having fed off the lively home atmosphere, and spurned another gilt-edged chance minutes later as Odsonne Édouard dragged his low shot wide of the far post after being released one-on-one down the right by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Following a slightly quieter spell, Palace went close again five minutes before the interval. Wharton's pass found Eze, who was afforded time to craft a curling effort that hit the underside of the crossbar with Areola beaten.
The Hammers were fortunate not to be behind at the interval, but enjoyed a bright start to the second half, offering a dangerous threat on the offensive. Souček forced a corner at the end of a well-constructed move before Vladimír Coufal sent a left-footed strike wide of the target.
As the hour mark passed, Lopetegui turned to his bench, introducing Wan-Bissaka for his West Ham debut.
And the Spaniard's substitution soon paid dividends, as Wan-Bissaka played a pivotal role in the opener. The 26-year-old went on a marauding run down the right before playing the ball into Bowen. The ball was cleared as far as Souček, who pounced from close-range to finish past Dean Henderson.
As gaps began to open up in the home side's defence, West Ham doubled their lead five minutes later.
Kilman started the move from the back as he charged forward across halfway and picked out a precise ball for Bowen to run onto. The forward side-stepped Palace defender Chadi Riad before shooting low into Henderson’s near post.
Glasner's side had chances to quickly halve the deficit when Ismaïla Sarr found Mateta just yards out, but he somehow failed to finish. Sarr's fierce effort then hit the post and bounced wide after being picked out by Tyrick Mitchell.
There was even time for West Ham stalwart Aaron Cresswell to replace Emerson late on to make his 350th appearance in Claret and Blue.
But the Irons just would not be beaten and saw out the 90 minutes without their goal being breached to seal an important victory and their first top-flight clean sheet in 20 matches.
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Munoz, Guéhi ©, Riad, Richards (Schlupp 82), Mitchell, Lerma (Kamada 63), Wharton, Eze, Mateta, Édouard (Sarr 71)
Subs: Johnstone (GK), Clyne, Ward, Holding, Doucouré, Ahamada
Booked: Lerma
West Ham United: Areola, Coufal (Wan-Bissaka 62), Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson (Cresswell 89), Rodríguez , Souček (Álvarez 78), Paquetá, Bowen ©, Kudus (Todibo 88), Antonio (Füllkrug 62)
Subs: Fabiański (GK), Ward-Prowse, Summerville, Ings
Goals: Souček 67, Bowen 72
Booked: Souček
Referee: Rob Jones
Attendance: 25,099
