Goals from Mauro Zarate, Stewart Downing and Carlton Cole were enough to earn West Ham their first victory over Crystal Palace in seven attempts as Palace’s troublesome start to the season continues. The Eagles looked second best for the large majority of the game and the problems are starting to pile up at Selhurst, with the hunt for a new manager still not nearing a conclusion after Malky Mackay and Tim Sherwood were ruled out of the running earlier this week.
The match began tentatively, with both sides struggling to retain possession for large amounts of time and chances were at a premium in the opening half an hour. The best opportunity fell to Zarate, who interchanged neatly with Aaron Cresswell but couldn’t get a shot away after a poor first touch. The Argentine, a summer signing from Velez Sarsfield, was soon to make up for it though, driving a dipping volley into the right-hand corner after 34 minutes. The move started from a short corner, where Palace sloppily allowed a two on one overload, a simple mistake which would have driven former manager Tony Pulis crazy, and after a neat interchange between Mark Noble and Ricardo Vaz Te, Noble’s blocked shot fell to Zarate 20 yards out, and despite the best efforts of Stuart O’Keefe to close him down, the Argentine made no mistake with his classy volley.
The lead was doubled only three minutes later when a powerful Downing run inside from the right wing created the space for the winger to drive home into the far corner, agonisingly inches out of Julian Speroni’s reach. It was an excellent solo goal, but questions have to be asked about Palace’s midfielders, who offered no support for Joel Ward as Downing drove into acres of space in the centre of the park. The lack of bite in midfield for Palace was a common feature for Palace throughout and the Hammers constantly overran them through the middle.
The second half offered some hope for Crystal Palace as Chamakh’s long-range shot fizzed into the bottom corner, but Carlton Cole soon sealed the three points for West Ham and ended a turbulent week for Palace in the worst possible way; a disappointing home loss to a London rival. The nature of the third West Ham goal will be particularly infuriating for the Eagles, who prided themselves on defensive stability last season, as a simple, route one costless-kick undid their defence, with Cole finding acres of space to smash home from the centre of the penalty area.
Demoralised, deflated and without a manager, Palace simply didn’t have the heart to fight back and the rest of the match fizzled out with very few chances.
| Crystal Palace (1) | West Ham (3) | ||
 |  |  |  |
| Speroni | 6 | Adrian | 6 |
| Kelly | 5 | O'Brien | 6 |
| Hangeland | 4 | Tomkins | 7 |
| Delaney | 5 | Reid | 7 |
| Ward | 5 | Cresswell | 7 |
| Bannan | 5 | Noble | 6 |
| Jedinak | 4 | Kouyate | 6 |
| O'Keefe | 3 | Downing | 7 |
| Bolasie | 4 | Zarate | 7 |
| Chamakh | 5 | Vaz Te | 5 |
| Campbell | 4 | Cole | 7 |
| Substitutions | |||
| Gayle | 4 | Sakho | 5 |
| Williams | 6 | Poyet | - |
| Murray | - | Diame | - |