A pair of second-half goals from Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen gave West Ham United their first Premier League win of the season as they cruised to a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Both sides had early chances, with Mohammed Kudus flashing a shot wide for the Hammers in the 11th minute and Palace striker Eberechi Eze denied by keeper Alphonse Areola five minutes later.
The best chance of a nervy first half fell to the home side as they pulled off a well-worked short corner just before the break that resulted in Eze firing a curling, dipping shot that smacked off the crossbar and bounced away to safety.
With the two sides cancelling each other out for most of the game, West Ham finally broke the deadlock when Aaron Wan-Bissaka, a recent arrival from Manchester United, came off the bench and launched a counter-attack up the right wing.
Wan-Bissaka found Bowen further forward, and his subsequent pass into the middle caused chaos in the Palace defence, and their inability to clear the ball was punished when Soucek made a trademark late run into the box to steer the ball home.
Hammers captain Bowen added the second goal five minutes later, latching on to a brilliant cross-field pass by Max Kilman before cutting on to his favoured left foot and lashing his shot into the net.
Jolted into life by that goal, Palace created a number of chances in quick succession and Ismail Sarr came closest to pulling a goal back, but his attempted effort shaved the outside of the left-hand post.
Hammers boss Julen Lopetegui brought Edson Alvarez off the bench and the Mexican defensive midfielder wasted no time shutting down the middle of the field to allow his side to hold on comfortably and give their new coach his first win.
Reuters
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