West Ham and Crystal Palace played out cagey performances as Christian Benteke’s first-half header was cancelled out by a super Sebastien Haller over-head kick for both sides to share the points at the London stadium.
Here’s how the players performed
Embed from Getty ImagesWEST HAM UNITED
Lukasz Fabainski – 5
It was a quiet evening for Fabianski in net tonight, he only faced two shots on target, one of which was the goal from Benteke. Didn’t do anything wrong but didn’t really do anything right either.
Vladimir Coufal – 8
West Ham must feel they have got an absolute bargain in Coufal. He is an old school defender that gets the job done at right-back but is able to go forward really well shown by his assist for Sebastien Haller’s superb goal. One of the stand-out performers from tonight, keeping Wilfred Zaha and Eberechi Eze relatively quiet is no easy task.
Embed from Getty ImagesIssa Diop – 4
The Frenchman’s return to the first eleven was not one to remember. Every time he faced Benteke he was second best, especially when it came to the goal. He wasn’t tight enough to the Belgium and that cost West Ham an early goal. Not an awful performance but not one he is soon to remember.
Angelo Ogbonna – 6
He has been a rock for the Irons this season and despite not keeping a clean sheet it was a good defensive performance yet again from the Italian stallion.
Aaron Cresswell – 5
It’s hard to pinpoint what Creswell actually did tonight. His influence going forward was nullified by his defensive duties of playing in a four at the back and I’m sure his first-half injury didn’t help his performance.
Declan Rice – 7
He continues to be a shining example of one of the best English talents in the Premier League. He broke up the play really well in the midfield and his distribution was incredible. An integral part of the West Ham midfield.
Embed from Getty ImagesTomas Soucek – 6
Like his Czech teammate, Coufal, Soucek had a decent game for the Hammers. Nothing too flashy but he did a lot of defensive work tonight and helped to keep Zaha quiet.
Jarrod Bowen – 7
When West Ham went one-nil down it seemed Bowen would be the player to get them back into the game. He produced the only other shot on target from the Irons and worked hard to track back and drive the team forward.
Said Benrahma – 6
Benrahma had a pretty quiet game tonight, he did well to drive at opponents and produced some pretty good deliveries but in the end had little impact on the game.
Pablo Fornals – 4
Fornals struggled to get into the game tonight, no wonder he was subbed off as the second-half kicked off. He just couldn’t seem to make an impact.
Sebastien Haller– 7
Had it not been for his goal Haller would have been rated a lot lower. He will grab all the headlines and rightfully so after his amazing overhead-kick gave West ham a much needed equaliser. Bar that however he really struggled to make an impact in the game and was pretty quiet. He did incredibly well to get on the scoresheet and what a goal it was.
Embed from Getty ImagesSUBSTITUTES
Manuel Lanzini– 6
Lanzini did all that Fornals did wrong. His passing was positive and direct and he looked a lot more comfortable dropping into the pockets than Fornals did. It was from that position Lanzini was able to play a part in Haller’s goal as he created the space and distributed the ball to Coufal for him to make the assist. A good impact from the Argentinian.
Andriy Yarmelenko – 5
He had little time to make an impact but was far less effective than the man he replaced, Bowen.
Robert Snodgrass– 5
Snoddy came on with just two minutes to play, it would have been pretty remarkable for him to of made an impact in that time but he was unable to.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Vicente Guaita – 6
The Spaniard had little to do all game as he, like Fabianski, only faced two shots on target and one of those was Haller’s un-saveable wonder goal. He did however make one good save from Bowen’s low driven shot early in the first-half. Other than that it was a quiet afternoon for him.
Patrick van Aanholt – 5
West Ham winger Bowen and right-back Coufal proved too much for van Aanholt tonight, most of West Ham’s chances came from the right-hand side of the pitch. Aanholt proved a decent option going forward for Palace but his defensive duties let him down.
Cheikhou Kouyate – 7
The ex-West Ham man was an absolute stone-wall for Palace tonight. He was physical against Haller and showed a surprising amount of pace to deal with Bowen, one of few Palace players to silence the winger. He was a leader at the back and really helped to give the Eagles their compact, defensive shape.
Embed from Getty ImagesScott Dann – 5
The Englishman was ready to be called upon when needed but had a pretty quiet performance at the heart of the Crystal Palace defence.
Joel Ward – 6
Besides Ward’s stunning delivery to assist Benteke’s goal he had a pretty uneventful game tonight.
Eberechi Eze – 7
It was disappointing to see Eze sacrificed to mitigate Benteke’s red card because he had a wonderful game. He run rings around a few West Ham players and was a constant threat down the left-hand side of the pitch.
Embed from Getty ImagesJames McArthur – 5
If you didn’t check the starting eleven you may have forgotten McArthur was even playing but that’s because his job is far from flashy. He sat in the midfield well but that’s about all he did.
Luka Milivojevic – 5
He was a strong character in midfield and needed to be against Rice and Soucek. He broke up the play well.
Andros Townsend – 7
Townsend has been a brilliant servant to Palace and showed his worth once again tonight. He was a key part of the Eagles compact shape and produced lot’s of problems for the Irons tonight. His stunning run almost led to a second for Palace had Benteke finished the move.
Wilfred Zaha – 6
It was one of his quieter nights for Palace as he struggled to make his mark on the game mainly from the defensive work of Coufal. He made some good runs and proved a slight threat but no end product gives him a fairly low rating by his standards.
Christian Benteke – 7
He was a hero and a villain for the Eagles tonight. Before his sending off he was an integral part of the Palace attack and had he stayed on the pitch he may of grabbed as second. The goal he did score was by no surprise by his head. His twenty-eight headed goal in the comp since 2012. His sending off was quite harsh in my opinion but you must always be careful while on a yellow card.
SUBSTITUTES
Jordan Ayew – 5
He has been a huge name in the last two fixtures between these clubs but had no such impact tonight as he failed to get involved in the game.
Jeffrey Schlupp -5
A pair of fresh legs was needed with just five-minutes to go but he had no other role in the game besides that.
