Four things we learnt from West Ham's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace
Jarrod Bowen celebrates his first goal of the season. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

West Ham picked up their first win of the season after beating Oliver Glasner's Crystal Palace 2-0 away at Selhurst Park.

The Hammers struggled to get into the game in the first half and almost went 1-0 down as Eberechi Eze's curling effort crashed off the bar just before the break.

With 30 minutes left to play in the second half, Lopetegui decided to hand new signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka his debut for the club and also brought on German international Niclas Füllkrug.

The deadlock was then broken when Wan Bissaka drove down the right hand side and found Bowen whose cross pinballed around the box and fell to the Souček who smashed the ball into the back of the net.

Bowen then doubled the away side's lead five minutes later, as centre back Max Kilman drove forward and played the England International through, who then fired the ball into the bottom right hand corner.

The win will give the East London club a lot of confidence, especially with tough fixtures in Manchester City and Chelsea coming up.

Here is what we learnt from the Hammers first win of the season:

  • Max Kilman is living up to his price tag

(Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images)
(Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images)

When West Ham signed Kilman, there were lots of question marks regarding the £40 million tag, but in the two opening games he has been the stand out defender in the side.

In last week's match against Aston Villa, the Englishman was the Hammers' best player on the pitch despite the 2-1 loss. As well as that, today again we saw why the former Wolverhampton Wanderers captain was Lopetegui's number one target in central defence.

Kilman was arguably Player of the Match today. He also managed a 100% pass completion rate and picked up an assist. The defender only managed to pick up one assist in 127 Premier League games for Wolves, so to get one, two games into his West Ham career, isn't bad going.

He has looked comfortable with the ball at his feet, which we saw today when he got his assist, as he picked the ball up from just outside his own box and drove past the halfway line, brushing off multiple players with ease.

Kilman being a ball playing defender goes all the way back to his youth days when he was an England international for Futsal.

The partnership of Kilman and Konstantinos Mavropanos has looked very promising in the first two games as today they managed to keep in-from Jean-Philippe Mateta quiet.

Both defenders are very similar in that they are fast, tall, strong, ball playing defenders and are very dominant in the air.

(Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
(Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)

Wan-Bissaka made his first appearance for the Hammers today as he came off the bench around the hour mark.

Since Coufal joined the East London club in 2020, he has made the right back postion his, but with the summer signing of Wan-Bissaka, it looks his position is under threat, especially with how the former Manchester United right full back performed today.

Many Hammers fans thought Wan-Bissaka would start today after Coufal's poor performace against Villa last weekend, so it came as a surprise when the 26 year old was starting on the bench.

In the first half of the game, Coufal looked very vulnerable and it was clear to see the likes of Eze and Tyrick Mitchell were targeting the right hand side of the West Ham defence. Lopetegui had to change something and that's what he did by bringing on Wan-Bissaka in place of the Czech full back.

Many people said that Wan-Bissaka struggled when going forward, but we saw quite the opposite today. He made an instant impact off the bench by driving forward with the ball from inside his own half for the first goal.

As well as that, he completely locked off Palace's left hand side of attack stopping the likes of Eze and Ismalïa Sarr from making any impact.

With his performance today, Wan-Bissaka has definitely made a case for himself to start at right back next week against Manchester City.

  • Edson Álvarez returning is crucial for the midfield

(Photo by Patrick Khachfe/Getty Images)
(Photo by Patrick Khachfe/Getty Images)

Álvarez returned to the side today after being out injured with a hamstring injury for 9 weeks. The midfielder is back in the team much quicker than expected as it was reported he wouldn't be back until after the next international break.

Before Álvarez came on, Palace were having a lot of joy through the centre of West Ham's midfield, we also saw Villa open up the Hammers midfield last week so for the Mexican to be back is huge.

Lopetegui is known for playing a midfield pivot, which today we saw for the first time with Álvarez and Guido Rodríguez. Both players had played together previously at Club América and that was clear to see with their chemistry on the pitch today.

Being 2-0 up, Álvarez came on and completely changed the West Ham midfield, as Palace could no longer play through the middle, which they were doing so well in the first half.

Last season, the 26 year old missed seven games through injury and in those seven games the Hammers only managed to pick up one win,  shows how key he is to the side.

After being out for so long it's massive for the East London club to have Álvarez available again but they don't want to rush him back too soon.

(Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images)
(Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images)

With it being reported that the Hammers are looking to move on one of Souček or James Ward-Prowse, it is key for them to impress and that's exactly what Souček did today.

The Czech midfielder has been at West Ham for almost 5 years and doesn't seem to get the credit he deserves. With his goal today, Mark Noble is the only midfielder who has scored more goals than Souček for the East London club in the Premier League.

The 29 year old has a reputation for being strong in the air and having great finishing. However, where the midfield gets most of his criticism is from his passing abilities as he seems to struggle playing in the deeper role and is much more affective at the top end of the pitch.

Despite this, his attacking threat is so key for this side as he has scored 32 goals in 208 appearances for the club and for a supposed 'defensive midfielder' those stats aren't at all bad.

West Ham fans are always saying they want players who will "die for the badge" and  Souček is one of those. Nobody can doubt his effort levels and his passion for the club and that was seen yet again today when he celebrated his goal.

With the signing of Rodríguez and possible arrival of Carlos Soler, Souček may soon find himself starting on the bench but there's no doubting his goalscoring ability is crucial for the Hammers.