Positives and Negatives from West Ham draw against Palace

In a tough battle between two London rivals, the points were shared between West Ham and the Eagles, leaving much to be desired.

West Ham were not at their best but managed to come away with a point after an entertaining draw against Crystal Palace at the London Stadium.

Although many Hammers fans would have loved to have seen the team really attack Palace and go for all three points after Christian Benteke got sent off, many fans were also satisfied with a point due to a poor first half.

Let’s now get into some of the positives and the negatives from the 1-1 result yesterday. As for one of the positives, you have to start with Sébastien Haller.

He scored an absolutely classic goal, an overhead kick that will not be forgotten. After all of the noise surrounding his performances over the past couple of weeks, this one must have felt great for Big Seb.

This fan thought another key positive of the match was the play of Manuel Lanzini, who came on as a halftime substitute for Pablo Fornals.

I thought Lanzini was very aggressive and attacking minded with the ball at his feet, and was one of the few players trying to create the game-winner for West Ham after the red card.

However, there were a few players who left a bit to be desired on the pitch yesterday and will grade as a negative, for starters, Issa Diop.

I understand Diop is still young and a bit rusty after having to deal with Covid-19 issues over the past couple of weeks, however, I believe he has to be a bit stronger in the air on Benteke’s goal. I guess we will have to see how Moyes sets up the back-line for Chelsea on Monday.

Another player who had a strange performance for me was Pablo Fornals. Although he would probably admit he was not at his best last night, it seems as though the attack may click better in a 4-2-3-1 formation when Lanzini is central, as opposed to Fornals.

All in all, it was a disappointing yet deserved result for the Irons. West Ham and Palace both had a decent number of chances, but overall, it was a pretty even match. Bring on Chelsea!