After a two week international break, the Hammers headed to Selhurst Park desperate to put an end to a run of five games without a win in the Premier League and with Aaron Cresswell back in action after a long absence through a nasty knee injury picked up in pre-season.
Slaven Bilic faced another former Irons boss in Alan Pardew in a tight and cagey affair which could have gone either way, with Palace dominating both possession and the number of chances with Christian Benteke going close on a number of occasions.
Cresswell set up Manuel Lanzini to tap home not long before half time to open the scoring, but the best chance of the game fell to Palace after their Belgian forward was fouled in the box. Benteke skewed the resulting penalty high and wide, and failed to make amends despite his second half header skimming the post.
The Hammer’s left-back once again stood out in the second 45, only for a yellow card for simulation, perhaps harsh, and another yellow for taking down Wilfried Zaha saw him sent off on his return after over 2 months out of action. Bilic will be delighted with the result, even if it was marred by the refereeing decision.
Read on over the next few pages to see what we can take from the tie…