Crystal Palace (0) 0 v 2 (0) West Ham United
67 Soucek, assist Kilman
72 Bowen
Yellows: Lerma Soucek Referee: R Jones.
Played Saturday 24 August 2024 at Selhurst Park, attendance 25,099.
The old firm of dynamic midfielder Tomas Soucek and new Captain Jarrod Bowen both scored in the second half to give West Ham United an away win in this Premier London Derbies (PLDs) match. There was more entertainment in this game than the score might suggest and both Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze and Odsone Edouard missed chances. Perhaps transfer talk is unsettling the Eagles’ stars including Captain Marc Guehi.
Tomas Soucek acted quickly after scoring his goal to avert a possible pitch side disaster. As he ran towards the celebrating Hammers fans surging forward in this compact ground an advertising hoarding fell forward onto a ball-boy. The Czech international thankfully pulled the boy to safety before worse could happen.
The pointless Eagles will face another London Club for their third successive Premier League (PL) match when it is Chelsea v Crystal Palace on Sunday 1 September 2024. Much is being made of Chelsea’s 43-man squad and the surrounding apparent chaos on and off the field. 22 of these players have 6 or more years on their contracts, and only 4 are in their last year including 2 of their 8 goalkeepers! Nevertheless, The Blues had a resounding 2-6 win away at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the PL last weekend. You have to go back to the 2016-17 season to find an away win in this one, Chelsea having won the last 6 PLDs meetings at Stamford Bridge. It seems very likely to happen again on Sunday 1 September 2024 unless there is an early season surprise in store.
Until next time, “Keep Safe” and enjoy your football, Andrew at PLDs.