December 03, (THEWILL) West Ham United were left ruing yet another failure to keep a clean sheet, as Crystal Palace substitute, Odsonne Édouard, capitalised on an errant back-pass to clinch a 1-1 draw at London Stadium on Sunday.
The Hammers had led through a 13th minute strike from Mohammed Kudus and appeared on course for a fifth consecutive victory across all competitions. However, a calamitous attempted pass from Konstantinos Mavropanos allowed Édouard to stride through and slot home in the 53rd minute.
The opener came courtesy of a flowing team move, with Kudus applying an emphatic first-time finish after being teed up by Vladimir Coufal’s cutback. Jarrod Bowen went close to doubling West Ham’s advantage before the break. At the other end, Joachim Andersen saw a looping deflected free kick drift narrowly wide for the visitors.
After the restart, the home side thought they had a second when Tomas Soucek bundled the ball home, only for the effort to be disallowed for offside. Within minutes however, Greek international Mavropanos overhit an intended pass back to his own goalkeeper. Seizing upon the chance, Édouard rounded the keeper before rolling into an unguarded net.
In a frantic finale, Bowen was presented with a chance to clinch all three points deep into added time, but headed straight at Eagles shot-stopper, Sam Johnstone. The draw means West Ham have kept just one clean sheet in 14 EPL matches this term. They remain lodged in mid-table, while Palace are 12th.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
