West Ham United 1-1 Crystal Palace

Mark Noble coolly slots his 50th goal for West Ham during the first half at London stadium

West Ham came from behind to draw with Crystal Palace despite being without forward Michail Antonio, who was left out of the team as punishment for being late for a team meeting.

The injury-hit hosts trailed to Christian Benteke's header but drew level from the penalty spot through captain Mark Noble after James Tomkins brought down Javier Hernandez.

David Moyes' side are now unbeaten in six games and move up to 10th place, while the Eagles are 12th - three points above 18th-place Stoke.

Hammers goalkeeper Adrian pushed away a low curling effort from Andros Townsend, who set up Benteke's goal, and James McArthur headed wastefully wide for Palace, who lost Bakary Sako to injury.

A lively first half, when Palace's Luka Milivojevic sent an effort narrowly over the bar and Tomkins earlier denied Hernandez with a well-timed tackle, was followed by a drab second.

Moyes will take further heart from an impressive debut by Portugal international Joao Mario, a loan signing from Inter Milan, who played a part in the build-up to the penalty, but both teams struggled for chances after the break with Hernandez going closest when his header was saved by Wayne Hennessey.

Antonio would have provided another attacking option for West Ham but Moyes adopted a tough stance following the 27-year-old's disciplinary breach.

"He turned up late this morning for a meeting and it wasn't the first time," he said. "I'm not having it at the club. I've said right from the start what it's going to be like.

"It's too often so I didn't involve him tonight, otherwise I would have probably tried to get him on the bench. He's apologised for it and because of that we move on.

"He'll be back training tomorrow morning. On time!

"He's got a chance of being in the squad (at Brighton on Saturday), but he would have been a big help for us tonight."

Both clubs have reaped the benefit of sacking their former managers early in the season after difficult starts.

Palace acted first, appointing Roy Hodgson on a two-year deal in September after just 77 days and five games under Frank de Boer left them winless, goalless and rock-bottom of the table. Under the 70-year-old they have now won six, scored 23 and moved further from the drop zone.

The Hammers gave Slaven Bilic more time but eventually sacked the Croat in November after dropping into the bottom three. Moyes was appointed the day after, and is overseeing a continued improvement.

Moyes makes do and mends

Pablo Zabaleta did a good job stopping Palace's attacking players from shining

David Moyes' starting XI proved how badly he needs attacking additions to the squad before Wednesday's deadline.

With 10 senior players missing through injury, including Andy Carroll, Manuel Lanzini and Marko Arnautovic, the Scot was forced to field a team with six defenders and two defensive midfielders.

The team was short on pace and this was exposed in the build-up to Palace's opener when Andros Townsend raced past Declan Rice too easily to tee up Benteke.

The Hammers rose above their offensive limitations through sheer graft; 33-year-old right-back Pablo Zabaleta rolled back the years in midfield with an energetic display and skipper Noble, 30, covered 11.75 km - more ground than any team-mate.

Zabaleta's deployment in midfield was a smart move by Moyes, as the former Manchester City player stuck doggedly to Palace danger man Wilfried Zaha, ensuring the winger could cause few problems.

The hosts had little opportunity to change anything from the bench in a tight second half and, short of goalkeeper Joe Hart and centre-back Jose Fonte, 34, their substitutes were an assortment of largely untested youngsters.

Eagles lack cutting edge

Benteke opens the scoring for Palace but it was his only attempt on goal all night

Benteke reminded Palace fans what he can do with a classic centre-forward's header to give his side the lead.

Thereafter he also reminded them why they can become frustrated by him, and why Hodgson may want further signings before the window closes.

After dominating the first half in an attacking sense the Eagles' threat fizzled out as the game wore on, and in the end they only managed one more shot (nine) than their defensively-minded opponents.

Benteke, 27, has scored 25 headed goals in the Premier League since his debut in September 2012 - but this was only his second goal in 19 appearances for Palace this season.

After the Eagles lost Benteke's strike partner Sako to an injury, Hodgson later said it "doesn't look good" for the Mali international.

Hodgson may have to focus on trying to add more firepower which can exploit the creative talents of Zaha and Townsend.

The South Londoners are resilient, though. They have now lost just two of their past 14 games, and those survival hopes increase with every point.

Man of the match - Mark Noble (West Ham)

Noble led by example for the Hammers and won more duels (80%) than any other West Ham player

Andros the Creator - the stats

• Andros Townsend's cross for Benteke's goal was his fifth assist of the season - his best ever return in a Premier League campaign.

• The tricky winger has been directly involved in five goals in his past six Premier League games for the Eagles (1 goal, 4 assists).

• West Ham are unbeaten in their past six Premier League encounters with Crystal Palace (W3 D3), with both games ending level this season.

• Crystal Palace have failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their past 13 Premier League London derbies away from home - last recording a shutout in December 2014 against QPR.

• The Hammers are unbeaten in their past six Premier League outings (W2 D4), their longest run without a defeat since April 2016 (10 games unbeaten).

• Since losing their first London derby of the season against Tottenham, West Ham have remained unbeaten in the next five (W1 D5), the Hammers' longest unbeaten streak since November 2005 (five games unbeaten).

• Mark Noble is the 11th player to score 20+ penalties in the Premier League.

• Christian Benteke has scored 25 headed goals in the Premier League since his debut in September 2012 - only Olivier Giroud (27) has netted more in this period.

'Joao Mario settled quickly' - what they said

West Ham manager David Moyes, speaking to Match of the Day: "I was pleased with a point because of the amount of key players we had.

"Crystal Palace have probably been the form team outside the top six. Every club has injuries, it's a chance for other players to show what they can do.

"Joao Mario settled in really quickly, which is always a worry when you bring a player in from abroad. He looks as if he is quite good at all the things.

"He handled the ball well and we needed him, he was important to us."

Roy Hodgson on Palace's transfer business: "The chairman and sporting director Dougie Freedman are working - they certainly haven't left the phone and haven't stopped trying to improve our squad as they realise it's something we have to do.

"There are always players out there - but are they players who are going to improve you and help you win games? Those players are much harder to find."

What's next?

West Ham travel to Brighton on Saturday (15:00 GMT), while Crystal Palace host Newcastle at Selhurst Park on Sunday (14:15 GMT).