Variation of goalscorers key for West Ham as the Moyes’ men continue to impress

Two goals from Tomas Soucek and a second West Ham goal for Craig Dawson secured the Hammers a 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

As the game started, most eyes looked above as the roof struggled to withhold the rainfall in south London.

They were quickly directed onto the field of play on three minutes. Christian Benteke exchanged passes with Wilfried Zaha, before the Ivorian fired home a low effort across Lukasz Fabianski.

Before the game, when speaking to fellow journalists, all score predictions pointed towards a drab affair. In fairness, their decision could be justified, the two clubs played out a fairly forgettable 1-1 draw at the London Stadium in December.

West Ham were only behind for a matter of minutes as Pablo Fornal’s scooped ball down the line was kept alive by Michail Antonio to set up Tomas Soucek who fired home a header from close range.

The Czech international has been one of the Hammers’ finest signings of recent seasons. His goals towards the back end of last season ensured the Hammers’ top-flight status, with the Czech suggesting he would have made his move permanent should they have been playing in the second tier.

Soucek would get another in the first half. Aaron Cresswell’s free-kick was bundled home by the Czech international at the back post. Cries of ‘deal with it Chris’ referring to Christian Benteke’s marking of Michail Antonio’s were in vain as the striker missed it only for the midfielder to poke into the net.

The strikers were his sixth and seventh of the campaign, a key factor in West Ham’s position in the Premier League table. Last season, only Michail Antonio (10) and Sebastien Haller (seven) achieved over five Premier League goals.

In this campaign, Soucek has already breached this barrier and is being well supported by Jarrod Bowen and Antonio, both having netted five and the latter having suffered with injuries this season.

30-year-old Antonio should have made it six for the season almost immediately after West Ham’s second, former Hammer Cheikhou Kouyate misjudging the wet surface to send the Englishman through on goal. The striker shot low past Vicente Guaita but the effort hit the post and bounced out with the West Ham bench already celebrating.

Palace were getting outnumbered in their own box, especially struggling to deal with Soucek’s late forays into the area, and Aaron Cresswell’s low strike deflected goalwards by Antonio almost ended up in a third for West Ham, the ball cannoning off the woodwork once again after pinball in the Eagles box.

Their dominance in the first half only increased in the second period. The visitors looked assured throughout, as Zaha grew more frustrated at his teammates’ inability to create opportunities.

On the occasion Eberechi Eze did just that, the Ivorian forward failed to beat Fabianski when one-on-one with the ‘keeper.

That would be the chance that the Eagles would rue. Antonio completed a hat-trick of misses when denied at close range by Guaita, before Dawson powered home a Bowen corner to extend the lead.

Michy Batshuayi would add a late consolation goal for Palace but West Ham would’ve been delighted with their overall performance.

The result takes them fourth in the table before Spurs’ fixture with Liverpool at Anfield. David Moyes is a contender for manager of the season as things stand, and if goals continue to arrive from varying sources, they may have their best chance of returning to Europe in recent years.

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