Graham Potter prospects of keeping his job as West Ham manager are looking ever more bleak after Crystal Palace won 2-1 at a mutinous London Stadium.
In a match played to a backdrop of thousands of fans protesting against club owner David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady, the Hammers slumped to a third straight home defeat this season, all against derby rivals.
Angry supporters are demanding change off the pitch but everything stays much the same on it, namely West Ham’s susceptibility to corners, their tendency to roll over when the going gets tough at their unpopular stadium and their over-reliance on Jarrod Bowen.
Jean-Philippe Mateta put Palace ahead – from a corner – and after Hammers captain Bowen levelled, Tyrick Mitchell was the unlikely match-winner with a sizzling volley.
Potter, who has won only six of his 25 matches in charge, was left cutting a forlorn figure on the touchline as some fans turned their ire towards him, chanting ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ and ‘sacked in the morning’.
Palace, like Tottenham and Chelsea before them, had earmarked West Ham’s inability to deal with corners and had already forced six of them before number seven paid off.
Potter said he had been working on defending set-pieces all week, and even dropped new goalkeeper Mads Hermansen in favour of the more imposing Alphonse Areola.
But it was the same old story as Daichi Kamada’s delivery was nodded on to the crossbar by Yeremy Pino and Mateta was on hand to prod the loose ball over the line – the seventh goal West Ham have conceded from a corner this season.
It was the Frenchman’s fourth goal of the season, and his fifth in four Premier League matches against the Hammers.
West Ham did not manage a single shot at goal during the first half, although one sweeping move between Lucas Paqueta, El Hadji Diouf and Crysencio Summerville almost put Callum Wilson through.
But the striker, now 33 and making his first start since his free transfer this summer, did not have the pace to head straight for goal and instead cut inside, with the chance quickly disappearing.
Palace won another corner 30 seconds into the second half and this time Adam Wharton’s cross was headed on to the crossbar by Maxence Lacroix.
But the next corner went to West Ham and, after Diouf’s first delivery was cleared behind, his second was superbly glanced in by Bowen at the near post.
Suddenly West Ham’s tails were up and Wilson just failed to connect with Bowen’s dangerous cross, before the Hammers captain played a delightful one-two with Paqueta before forcing a save from Dean Henderson.
Palace defender Chris Richards then had to clear Paqueta’s header from another Bowen cross off the line.
But West Ham’s bubble quickly burst when Palace went ahead again, Konstantinos Mavropanos only half-clearing Wharton’s cross and Mitchell sending it back with interest to deepen the gloom in east London.
PA
