West Ham Jumps To Top 4 After Defeating Crystal Palace 3-2

West Ham (Twitter @westham)

JAKARTA - West Ham United has penetrated the top four of the Premier League standings after beating Crystal Palace 3-2 on a visit to Selhurst Park Stadium, London, for the 20th match which takes place on Tuesday local time (Wednesday local time).

The result was West Ham's victory in four consecutive matches that made David Moyes' team jump from seventh to fourth with a collection of 35 points.

Meanwhile, Palace, who experiences two successive defeats still stuck for a while in 13th place with 23 points, Antara noted on the official Premier League website.

WWWWWW.

We are 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 it. #CRYWHU

— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 26, 2021

Palace actually opened the match and had the opportunity to maintain a record against West Ham in the previous four matches by opening up the advantage just three minutes after the start through Wilfried Zaha's goal.

Receiving the ball outside the penalty box, Zaha cooperates with Christian Benteke one-two before finishing it with a sharp kick into the bottom left corner of the goal.

However, West Ham's lead did not last long, as six minutes later Tomas Soucek was able to equalize when he broke into the penalty area to head Michail Antonio's cross.

In the 25th minute, West Ham takes the lead when Soucek scores his second goal with fine ball control over Aaron Cresswell's free-kick before beating goalkeeper Vicente Guaita at the near post area.

Referee Stuart Attwell consulted with VAR over alleged offside before conceding the goal that put West Ham 2-1 up.

Two minutes later West Ham almost immediately added their lead when Antonio cut in a Cheikhou Kouyate pass towards Gary Cahill, unfortunately still hitting the post.

Soucek then almost completed his hat-trick in the 32nd minute with a shot from the edge of the box, but Guaita was able to thwart the chance.

West Ham, who continued to press, were not able to increase their lead until halftime after Pablo Fornals' shot was secured by Guaita and Antonio's shot hit the post again.

The Hammers entered the second half with the same intensity of the attack, but their two chances through Antonio and Vladimir Coufal were again denied by Guaita.

West Ham's hard work finally paid off when Jarrod Bowen's corner was met with a targeted header by Craig Dawson to make it 3-1 over Palace in the 65th minute.

A two-goal lead made West Ham choose to survive a little in the last 10 minutes of the match and that strategy almost backfired, fortunately, Zaha and James McArthur's shots were off target.

Palace just able to score against West Ham again in the seventh minute of injury time through Michy Batshuayi's close range, but the goal was only enough to reduce their loss to 2-3.

Another superb performance to keep up our 💯% record in 2021 👏

We're up to fourth! 💪⚒ pic.twitter.com/IdYhbiyf1f

— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 26, 2021

Victory is clearly a positive gain for West Ham who will next host Liverpool on Sunday, January 31 a day after Palace faces Wolverhampton at Selhurst Park.