West Ham 1 Crystal Palace 1: Mark Noble penalty ensures London derby draw after Christian Benteke goal

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Jack Rosser @JackRosser_30 January 2018

It was billed as a relegation six-pointer, but West Ham and Crystal Palace had to settle for just a point at London Stadium.

Christian Benteke scored his second goal of the season, only to see it cancelled out by a Mark Noble penalty as a depleted Hammers side took perhaps more than they had expected and moved into the top half of the Premier League.

West Ham started the quieter of the two, with their visitors from south London seeing most of the ball. However, the Hammers were first to get a sight of goal when Javier Hernandez nodded down into the path of debutant Joao Mario, his attempted bobbled wide though.

Minutes later and Hernandez was in himself when Timothy Fosu-Mensah nudged the ball into the Mexican’s path, only for former West Ham man James Tomkins to slide in and take the ball from under his nose at the last minute.

With David Moyes’ threadbare side looking surprisingly threatening, it didn’t take too long for things to unravel. With six defenders in their starting XI, it would be fair to assume that cheap goals would be hard to come by for Roy Hodgson’s side.

However, perhaps to the amazement of the winger himself, when Andros Townsend picked the ball up just inside West Ham territory he was allowed to run all the way to the byline before crossing to the awaiting Benteke, who headed home just his second goal of the season.

The Hammers retaliated with a couple of half-chances, but looked far from threatening as a clear lack of pace hampered and isolated Hernandez.

An injury to Bakary Sako, though, gave the hosts a way back in. The in form forward took his time to go off before being replaced by Yohan Cabaye. However, with a direct threat replaced with a midfielder far from full fitness, there was hope for Moyes.

Things got even better just minutes later when, after some neat play between Mario and Hernandez, the latter was adjudged to have been tripped by an incessant Tomkins in the box.

Replays raised questions over whether or not the striker had dived, though they were far from conclusive and of course did nothing to cancel out Mark Noble’s cool finish from 12 yards.

A feisty end to the first half gave hope for an exciting second, however, it took far longer than expected to materialise.

Aside from a Hernandez header early on after the restart, saved well by Wayne Hennessey, the two sides cancelled each other out as the rain began to fall in east London.

With little to call upon from the bench in terms of forward players, West Ham’s hopes of a winner lay solely in the hands of Hernandez and Mario.

The pair, who both featured in the FA Cup defeat at Wigan, could do little to break the Eagles’ back line late on.

While moving into the top half, before Everton face Leicester on Wednesday, is a significant milestone and something few would have expected from Moyes back in November, Swansea’s win over Arsenal means the battle against the drop is just as tight.

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