Crystal Palace fell to a 2-0 defeat at home to West Ham on Saturday afternoon.
Here is Edmund Brack’s lowdown from Selhurst Park.
THE LINE-UPS
Palace: Henderson, Munoz, Richards (Schlupp 82), Guehi, Riad, Mitchell, Lerma (Kamada 62), Wharton, Eze, Edouard (Sarr 71), Mateta. Subs not used: Johnstone, Ward, Holding, Clyne, Ahamada, Doucoure.
West Ham: Areola, Coufal (Wan-Bissaka 62), Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson (Cresswell 88), Rodriguez, Paqueta, Soucek (Alvarez 78), Bowen, Kudus (Todibo 88), Antonio (Fullkrug 62). Subs not used: Fabianski, Ward-Prowse, Summerville, Ings.
SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME
In a tetchy first half, Palace were the more dominant side and had the better chances. Odsonne Edouard and Eberechi Eze both went close in the opening stages – the latter forcing a good save from Alphonse Areola from inside the penalty area.
Eze was inches away from opening the scoring before half-time when he crashed an effort off the crossbar from the edge of the box.
Picture : Keith Gillard
But Jefferson Lerma’s withdrawal and West Ham’s substitutes gave the Hammers all three points – Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen found the back of the net in the second half.
TACTICAL APPROACH
Oliver Glasner said in his pre-match press conference that West Ham were a threat from set-pieces and his Crystal Palace side needed to be wary. It took just two minutes for Tomas Soucek to head just wide from a corner.
Odsonne Edouard impressed in training during the week and started in one of the attacking roles behind Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Chadi Riad lined up for his Premier League debut against Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen – a battle the visitors would come out trumps on.
The key battle came in midfield, with Jefferson Lerma’s substitution and Daichi Kamada’s introduction seeing Palace lose their bite in the middle of the pitch.
STAR MAN
Jarrod Bowen. Played a role in both goals and gave Chadi Riad a massive headache on his Premier League debut.
Picture : Keith Gillard
BEST MOMENT
Flurry of first-half chances. The Eagles started the game brightly. Odsonne Edouard and Eberechi Eze both went close early on but were unable to take their chances.
Palace’s attacking prowess went missing after Eze fired a shot off the crossbar just before half-time.
Glasner’s side did not have a shot on target after the 51st minute, and the substitutions were unable to have an impact on the game.
MOAN OF THE MATCH
Taking off Lerma killed Palace. With Will Hughes missing through illness, Jefferson Lerma brought a presence to Palace’s midfield on his first Premier League start of the season.
His substitution, with Daichi Kamada coming on in the 62nd minute, allowed West Ham space and time to drive at Palace’s defence – Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Bowen linking up for their first.
Picture : Keith Gillard
Cheick Doucoure remained on the bench despite coming on in the 2-1 defeat at Brentford on the opening weekend of the season.
A TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB – RIAD’S DEBUT
Following the departure of Joachim Andersen to Fulham for £30million, summer signing Chadi Riad was handed his Premier League debut.
Riad was alongside Guehi and Richards. He had to battle against Michail Antonio.
The Morrocan centre-back was nearly punished 11 minutes into his Crystal Palace debut when he gave the ball away to Bowen just inside his own half, but Mohammed Kudus shaved a shot just wide.
Riad also lost out in a battle with West Ham midfielder Guido Rodriguez early on in the second half, which saw the Hammers have a sight of goal.
The former Barcelona youngster allowed Bowen to drive at goal and get the ball on to his left foot for West Ham’s second.
Picture : Keith Gillard
WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY
“It would be easy [to say that transfer speculation played a role in the defeat], but it doesn’t help us. We don’t look for excuses. We had enough situations to score today. But in these two situations where we conceded the goals, we didn’t defend well enough.
“For the first goal, we lost the ball on their 18-yard box. In the end, without winning any dual, they are in our box. We had many situations where we could have cleared it, but it didn’t.
“It was our fault. We have to improve.”
PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD
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