Crystal Palace 2-1 West Ham: Jordan Ayew nets brilliant late winner to beat Hammers
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Ayew's goal was his second late winner against West Ham this season
Jordan Ayew's sensational 90th-minute winner will "live long in the memory", says manager Roy Hodgson after his Crystal Palace side came from behind to beat West Ham at Selhurst Park.
Ayew danced through the Hammers defence on the edge of the box and then brilliantly beat goalkeeper Roberto with a calm chip to claim the three points.
He also set-up Cheikhou Kouyate with a knock-down for Palace's equaliser, as the midfielder swept home a volley from seven yards to cancel out Robert Snodgrass' opener.
"It was a fantastic effort," Hodgson said.
"I thought Jordan did ever so well to set up the first goal.
"The second was one of those wonderful individual efforts that will live long in the memory and get lots of airings on TV.
"He deserves that - it's a fine reward for his performance today and this season so far."
The win takes Palace up to eighth in the Premier League table but West Ham fall to 17th, just a point above the relegation zone as pressure increases again on manager Manuel Pellegrini.
Ayew magic grabs deserved three points for Palace
Crystal Palace 2-1 West Ham: Hodgson praises excellent Ayew
Ghanaian Ayew unsurprisingly said afterwards his goal was one of the best he has scored in his career.
He drove in from the right wing, beat Declan Rice with a drag-back and dribbled around two more defenders before showing brilliant composure to send Selhurst Park delirious.
A dreary first half did not hint at what was to come later, but the winner was deserved reward for Palace's second-half performance.
Ayew and Luka Milivojevic had both gone close before Snodgrass' curled the opener inside the far post against the run of play.
That said, the Scotland international could have scored again moments before Ayew's goal if not for an excellent block from Jairo Riedewald.
Palace have rarely grabbed the headlines this season but they now go into the second half of the season with 26 points - just three off the top six - and have a chance to secure just a second top-10 Premier League finish.
Pressure back on Pellegrini's stuttering Hammers
West Ham have won three of their past 13 matches
When Snodgrass put West Ham in front, the Hammers were en route to a second successive Premier League win which would have moved them well clear of the drop zone.
Instead, not helped by wins elsewhere for Southampton and Aston Villa, they are looking worryingly over their shoulders once again.
They have had 12 days without a match since their win at Southampton but have followed those three points with defeat - as they did when they beat Chelsea in November.
Pellegrini was reportedly facing the sack had his side lost at Southampton, external and will have to face more questions about his position after this defeat.
They only had two shots on target in the 90 minutes and will wonder how Ayew was able to beat so many defenders for the winner.
The Hammers have a difficult game against Leicester at London Stadium on Saturday before they host Bournemouth on New Year's Day.
"We need to recover as soon as we can," said Pellegrini, whose side have only won twice at home this season.
"We need to play our home game where we are not having good results - we have two games in a row there and I hope we start winning."
Manuel Pellegrini 'disappointed' with manner of West Ham defeat
Injuries mount for Palace
The only negatives for Palace were further additions to their growing injury list.
The Eagles were already without five first-team players - Scott Dann, Gary Cahill, Joel Ward, Andros Townsend and Jeffrey Schlupp - before striker Christian Benteke was ruled out of this game with a muscle injury that Hodgson said would sideline the Belgian a "few weeks".
Full-back Patrick van Aanholt was then substituted in the second half after pulling up with what looked to be a hamstring injury.
Hodgson said he will try to sign "a few" players in January to bolster their squad.
Man of the match - Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace)
The winner from Ayew (left) could be a contender for goal of the season and capped an excellent performance
Ayew the late goal specialist - the best stats
Crystal Palace recorded a Premier League double over West Ham for just the second time, having previously done so in the 2013-14 season under Tony Pulis.
The team scoring first has not won any of the past six Premier League meetings between Crystal Palace and West Ham (D3 L3), with the Eagles coming from behind to win 2-1 in both meetings this season.
Crystal Palace are unbeaten in their past three London derbies at Selhurst Park in the Premier League (W2 D1) - their longest such run since between March 1993 and September 1994 (also three games).
No fewer 76% of Crystal Palace's goals in the Premier League this season have been scored in the second half of games (13 out of 17), including eight of their nine at Selhurst Park.
Ayew has scored 21 goals in the Premier League, with 20 of those being netted in the second half (95%) - the highest such ratio of any player with 20 or more goals in the competition's history.
Snodgrass has scored four league goals against Crystal Palace - only against Bristol City (five) has he netted more in English league competition.
Kouyate became the fourth player to score for both the Eagles and West Ham in the Premier League, after Iain Dowie, Michael Hughes and James Tomkins.
Wilfried Zaha completed 12 dribbles for Crystal Palace in this game; the most by a player in a Premier League outing since Chelsea's Eden Hazard in February (13 versus Huddersfield).
What's next?
Both sides are back in action in two days time. Crystal Palace travel to Southampton on 28 December (15:00 GMT kick-off) while West Ham host Leicester later the same day (17:30).