Crystal Palace 5-2 West Ham United: Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze star in brilliant Palace win

Crystal Palace hit four goals in the first 31 minutes as they thrashed sorry West Ham at Selhurst Park.

Eberechi Eze then netted a superb bicycle kick from close range and Emerson Palmieri turned into his own net under pressure from Daniel Munoz for Palace’s third of the afternoon.

Olise turned provider, squaring the ball across goal for Jean-Philippe Mateta to sidefoot home.

Michail Antonio got in behind his man and poked past home goalkeeper Dean Henderson for a Hammers consolation towards the end of the first half.

But Oliver Glasner’s side continued to dominate after the break and Mateta scored again for his ninth league goal of the campaign in an excellent performance from the Eagles.

West Ham pulled another back, making it 5-2, when Tyrick Mitchell fired back towards his own goal without looking and Henderson’s scuffed clearance went into the net.

“The first half was as bad as I’ve seen us play,” said Hammers boss David Moyes. “[It] was unacceptable, it was hard to actually explain it.

“I’m so disappointed for the supporters who came here today and, in truth, I’m embarrassed to sit here and actually be speaking on behalf of the team and the way they performed today.

“I’ve got to say I’ve not had many teams who have played like that in my whole career.”

Palace dominated proceedings from start to finish and could have scored even more against a West Ham side who played in Europe on Thursday and looked defeated once they conceded the first goal.

Eze’s acrobatic goal came after Mateta’s effort across Fabianski was saved by his right foot, with the England international firing in the rebound.

Eze skewed a few efforts wide of the post after scoring his goal and fired another shot high over the bar from just inside the box as the Hammers struggled to contain the former QPR man.

Apart from Antonio’s goal, West Ham created few chances of note and were thoroughly outclassed in yet another away performance to forget.

Brilliant performance from Palace as Eze and Olise shine

It is only the second time Eze and Olise have started together this season and when they do, the improvement in Crystal Palace’s performances is clear to see.

Both players scored and provided an assist as they danced through the West Ham defence at will.

Olise, at 22 years and 131 days old, is the youngest player to have been directly involved in 10 or more goals in each of the past two Premier League campaigns (13 in 2022-23 and 11 in 2023-24).

Eze nutmegged the unfortunate Kurt Zouma to set up Mateta for his second goal and will be disappointed he only scored once.

Mateta was also in fine form and now has nine goals for the season, more than in his first three campaigns in the competition combined (eight).

Olise and Eze were taken off in the 67th and 81st minute respectively, receiving rapturous applause from the home support for their superb performances in Palace’s biggest win of the season.

Lethargic Hammers suffer more away day blues

West Ham have not fared well after European fixtures this season and they suffered the same fate against Palace, having been knocked out of the Europa League by Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday.

After 38 minutes, the home fans were singing “you’re getting sacked in the morning” to Hammers boss Moyes.

In his 693rd game as a manager in the Premier League, this was the earliest a Moyes side had ever been 4-0 down in a game in the competition and 31 minutes was all it took for Palace to end the game as a contest.

Antonio was in the right place to score West Ham’s first half goal on his 250th Premier League appearance the club, becoming just the third player to reach this milestone for them in the competition, after Mark Noble (414) and Aaron Cresswell (291).

It has been a poor start to the calendar year for the Hammers. They have won just four of their 21 games across all competitions in 2024.

West Ham will have to bounce back from defeat quickly as they host title-chasing Liverpool on Saturday (12:30 BST).