Palace Hand Potter First Hammers League Defeat

Fixtures between West Ham United and Crystal Palace did have a habit of going in the visiting team’s favour and after a period of time, this trend was rediscovered on Saturday afternoon, when the Eagles won 2-0 in Stratford.

Graham Potter made one change to his starting line-up from the victory over Fulham here five days ago. Aaron Cresswell started his first game of the current campaign, coming in for Carlos Soler. Despite the on-loan Spaniard suffering a minor hamstring problem prior to this game, he was fit enough to take his, while Alphonse Areola returned to the matchday squad for the first time since the 4-1 defeat at Manchester City back on January 4.

Also amongst the substitutes were youngsters Oliver Scarles, Lewis Orford, Kaelan Casey and Luis Guilherme.

The visitors were unbeaten in six matches away from Selhurst Park coming into this game but the home side were keen to see if they could build on their 3-2 success over the Cottagers but the Eagles proved a totally different proposition. In contrast to Tuesday, Potter’s side weren’t able to hold the ball for a sustained period of time, meaning that Oliver Glasner’s men were able to dominate proceedings.

It was a defensive show in the first-half although goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański had far more to do than his opposite number Dean Henderson.

Once again, Mohammed Kudus was deployed as a makeshift frontman in the absence of Jarrod Bowen and he repeatedly found space but wasn’t able to help his team make the breakthrough.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka was in the starting line-up to face his former club and volleyed wide, while Edson Álvarez had his attempt blocked. The passage of play ended when Lucas Paquetá also failed to hit the target. Whilst Eberechi Eze sent an effort over the top at the other end.

Fabiański did at least keep out Jean-Philippe Mateta and made an easy catch from defender Chris Richards as Palace ramped up the pressure.

Both goalkeepers kept their clean sheets intact, as Daichi Kamada had plenty of time and space to try his luck but fortunately for the home faithful, he didn’t even test the Pole in West Ham’s goal.

When the Hammers have turned in patchy looking performances at home on previous occasions this season, the crowd certainly made their feelings known to former Head-Coach Julen Lopetegui. However, they could see what Potter is trying to achieve and weren’t as vocal when referee Thomas Bramall blew for the break.

In an effort to add more pace in midfield, Potter made a change before the teams reemerged from the dressing rooms. Soler was introduced to take the place of Guido Rodríguez.

The East Londoners have conceded a large number of goals already this term and after Konstantinos Mavropanos was booked for bringing down Mateta, that number increased. The former Queens Park Rangers striker played in Mateta who eased past Max Kilman and beat Fabiański with a powerful shot.

Seconds after the Irons had survived another scare when Eze fired wide, there was a proud and historic moment for the home side when Orford made his Premier League debut as part of a triple change on fifty six minutes, along with Scarles and Danny Ings who all replaced Cresswell, Emerson Palmieri and Paquetá.

The latest three home substitutions started to make an impact, as Ings had his shot blocked but unfortunately, when the rebound fell for Álvarez, he could only shoot wide.

Later in the game, Glasner turned to his bench and introduced both Eddie Nketiah and Justin Devenny within ten minutes of each other for Ismaïla Sarr and Eze.

The Austrian saw the two newcomers combine and almost extend the advantage for the visitors but fortunately, Fabiański was alert to the danger and able to make the save before grabbing hold of Devenny’s attempt soon after.

Matters then went from bad to worse for the Irons. With ten minutes of normal time left to play, Mavropanos was sent-off, following a second bookable offence after kicking Mateta in the head.

Minutes later, the Head-Coach made use of his final alteration, as he withdrew Álvarez and sent Guilherme into the fray.

The home side’s misery was compounded when Bramall awarded the Eagles a penalty when Fabiański upended Nketiah. To be fair to the Pole, he nearly made amends for his error but unfortunately for the majority inside the stadium, the former Arsenal striker did squeezed the ball under the body of the stopper.

All of which meant that Potter couldn’t conjure up back-to-back wins and suffered his first top-flight defeat in charge of the Irons. Following consecutive home games, the new management team revisit Aston Villa next Sunday, hoping to avenge last week’s Emirates FA Cup exit.