Julen Lopetegui has his first win in charge of West Ham United as a resounding second-half performance earned a 2-0 victory away to Crystal Palace.
TV Info - Broadcasters
Having made a slow start, West Ham were able to ride out the pressure and claim the points thanks to goals from Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen.
Kilman strides into midfield and sets up Bowen for his first goal of the season 🔥 pic.twitter.com/UocgfSGFjx
— West Ham United (@WestHam) August 24, 2024
Eberechi Eze had chances to open the scoring for Palace in the first half, but struggled to hit the target before Soucek’s opener in the 67th minute.
Bowen then punished the hosts by finishing off another quick counter-attack five minutes later to rule out Palace’s hopes of a first win this season.
West Ham are off the mark, with their three points moving them up to seventh, while Palace are down in 18th without a point so far.
How the match unfolded
There was little to split the sides in the opening 45 minutes. Mohammed Kudus struck the post with a pacy drive for West Ham, but Eze pulled the strings for Palace as they created the better chances.
His early effort was deflected onto the roof of the net before Alphonse Areola made a sprawling save to deny him 10 minutes later. Then in the 42nd minute, he rifled a powerful strike off the crossbar.
Eze also hit a tame shot into Areola’s gloves in the second half as Palace struggled to regain their flow, allowing West Ham to take hold of the game.
Soucek took advantage of confusion in the box, as Bowen’s cross pinballed through the crowd, drilling his low shot under Dean Henderson to open the scoring.
Five minutes later, Bowen got the second. He latched onto Max Kilman’s switch before putting the ball inside the near post after a weaving run into the area.
Niclas Fullkrug almost netted his first Hammers goal in the dying seconds, but from a tight angle on the left of the box, he fired into the side netting.
No home comforts for Palace
Despite Soucek having a header fly wide of the far post just three minutes in, Palace came out flying for the first half.
Eze was the standout for the hosts, but Jean-Philippe Mateta and Odsonne Edouard had their chances as well as the fluid front three caused problems throughout the first 45 minutes.
They were able to do that thanks to the solidity of their defence. Following Joachim Andersen’s move to Fulham, the spotlight once again fell on Marc Guehi as he made his 100th Premier League appearance for Palace.
But along with Chris Richards and debutant Chadi Riad, Palace stood firm at the back until the second half.
Palace’s back five struggled to cope with West Ham’s threat on the counter, often getting caught in two minds between closing down the ball or protecting the space in behind as they were stretched.
Having now lost back-to-back games to start their Premier League campaign, Oliver Glasner has problems to fix as they go in search of their first win of the season against Chelsea next weekend.
Lopetegui up and running
Unlike in this exact fixture last season, which saw West Ham concede five goals, including four in the first half, they managed to hold firm against Palace’s pressure.
However, Julen Lopetegui saw a side that were still struggling to link up in the final third, especially in the first half.
The Hammers showed the odd promising sign before stepping up their intent in a frenetic start to the second, but it was not until the introduction of new signings that they settled into their groove.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka, brought on for his debut, raced away on the counter-attack, opening up the space in the build-up to West Ham’s opener. Fullkrug, meanwhile, should have got on the scoresheet. He held up play well when they were forced to go long to get away from Palace’s late push.
While it was the starters in Soucek and Bowen that scored the goals, Lopetegui’s new boys have given the manager plenty to think about with champions Manchester City next up at home.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
3 | +2 | 7 |
| 7 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
4 | 0 | 7 |
| 8 |
Brentford
BRE
|
4 | 0 | 6 |
| 9 |
Man Utd
MUN
|
4 | 0 | 6 |
Club reports
Crystal Palace report | West Ham report
What the managers said
Oliver Glasner: “At the moment we don't score from our chances, and we conceded goals which were maybe too easy. It was two transitions where we had enough players to avoid it, but we didn't.
"That's the disappointing part. I think we played okay. It's maybe not the top level, but it's okay, we created chances, we created situations."
Julen Lopetegui:"We had to be together to overcome the bad moments. We did and were resilient to compete. We have to highlight this from the players in my opinion, that they are all together and this is one achievement from all of them, the team.
"The players on the pitch and the players on the bench, the players who didn't play, all of them are main actors."
Next Premier League fixtures
Key facts
West Ham have recorded their first Premier League win over Crystal Palace since a 3-2 away victory in January 2022, ending a four-game winless run against the Eagles (D1 L3).
This is the fifth time Crystal Palace have lost their opening two games of a Premier League season after 2013-14, 2014-15, 2016-17 and 2017-18.
West Ham’s 2-0 win was their first clean sheet in the Premier League since a goalless draw with Brighton in January, ending a 19-game run in the competition without a shutout.
West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen has been involved in eight goals in his last 10 London derbies in the Premier League (6 goals, 2 assists), with this his first such goal away from home since December 2023 against Tottenham.
