West Ham 1-3 Crystal Palace: Hammers have become first non ever-present Premier League side to do what?

FURTHER READING

It's five away victories out of five for Crystal Palace since Alan Pardew's appointment in January, as the Eagles used their set-piece prowess this season to devasatating effect. The Hammers completed twice as many passes as their opponents in the first half (144 to 69) but failed to test Julian Speroni once and were behind at the break thanks to a slapstick goal.

Glenn Murray's downward header from a corner lacked power, but still ended up in the net after Aaron Cresswell's awful slice. The Eagles had started slowly, but ended the opening period having fashioned 8 attempts at goal - 5 of them coming from Murray - with Jason Puncheon the architect of 4 of them.

Two more headers secured the points in the second half; Scott Dann and Murray heading in further expert deliveries from Puncheon, who ended the day with a game-high 12 ball recoveries as well as 3 assists.

After Murray had seen red for a second yellow card, Enner Valencia scored his first Premier League goal since December 1 to reduce the arrears. It was the Hammers' first shot on target at the 10th attempt.

  • The Eagles have scored 17 goals from set-pieces this season, a Premier League high tally.
  • Palace led at half-time in a Premier League game for only the second time in 2014/15 (the other being West Brom in October).
  • Puncheon assisted 3 goals in this game, becoming the first Palace to achieve this in the Premier League. The last Premier League player to do this was Dusan Tadic (vs Sunderland in October).

  • West Ham conceded 3 goals in a Premier League game for the first time since August (vs Southampton).
  • Valencia scored his first Premier League goal at Upton Park. His previous 3 all came in away games.

  • Pardew has won 3 consecutive Premier League away games as a manager for the first time.
  • Palace have won 5 of their last 8 matches in all competitions against West Ham (D2 L1).

  • The Hammers have lost their 300th Premier League game and become the first non ever-present PL side to reach that figure.
  • West Ham attempted 22 shots (including blocked) in this game – their joint-highest tally of the Premier League season in a single match.

Analyse West Ham 1-3 Crystal Palace yourself using Stats Zone

Gregg Davies

Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.