Sebastien Haller’s stunner not enough as West Ham share the spoils with Palace
West Ham United's Sebastien Haller scores his side's goal in the draw with Brighton. Picture: Adam Davy
Sebastien Haller’s goal of the season contender was the highlight of a derby draw that also saw Christian Benteke score and then get himself sent off.
Haller, with his stunning bicycle kick, took his goal tally for the season to a not particularly impressive three - the same number the less than prolific Benteke has now managed all season.
David Moyes had declared beforehand that the European qualification places were his natural habitat rather than the grubby relegation squabbles forced upon him for the past few seasons. The Scot pointed to consistent top-seven finishes at Everton as evidence but his West Ham side added little to the dossier marked ‘Exhibit B - 2020-21’ in this game.
Apart from Haller’s overhead kick equaliser they looked nothing like a side deserving of the fifth place that would have been theirs had they won. In the end they overtook just Manchester City to sit seventh.
Both sides made changes to their defence, with Issa Diop replacing Fabian Balbuena for the Hammers and Palace opting not to risk Gary Cahill or Nathaniel Clyne when Joel Ward and Scott Dann were available to slot in instead.
Palace made by far the brighter start, with Eberechi Eze keen to get on the ball and take people on. That was exactly what Wilfried Zaha decided to do with Vladimir Coufal on the edge of the box and the Ivory Coast forward was less than impressed with referee David Coote when the defender’s robust use of an arm was deemed perfectly legal.
Benteke was next to disappoint, for missing the game’s first clear chance. The big Belgian headed wide from all of six yards despite outjumping Diop to meet Ward’s cross. Roy Hodgson reacted with a rueful grimace; he’d seen it all before.
West Ham replied with a similar miss, albeit from a little further out as Pablo Fornals glanced Coufal’s delivery beyond the back post.
The Hammers had to soak up a little pain too, with Aaron Cresswell soldiering on after rolling an ankle and Angelo Ogbonna left smarting from an elbow in the face in an aeriel duel with Benteke.
Within seconds the Belgian, who had been booked, hurt the Hammers in another way, by heading in a 34th-minute opener that was similar to his earlier miss - Ward delivering from the right for the striker to get the better of Diop - but crucially more accurate in its execution. Hodgson’s reaction this time was a smile and a cursory exploration of an ear with a finger.
Benteke was back three times before half time to add to his enigmatic status by heading one chance wide, messing up a back flick from close-range and blasting a third opportunity over, to the relief of the Hammers, who had seen Vicente Guaita save Jarrod Bowen’s drive in a rare reply of quality in between.
Fornals was replaced by Manuel Lanzini at the start of a second period that began with Cresswell blasting a free-kick over and Haller levelling in the 55th minute.
The Ivory Coast forward’s overhead-kick from Coufal’s cross into a heavily populated box was an example of both beauty and brutality and gave Guaita no chance. It was also his first contribution of the evening.
Benteke’s night ended in the 70th minute when he elbowed Tomas Soucek, who had just fired over, in the head in a replica of the Ogbonna incident to earn his second yellow. The Hammers could not turn that man advantage into a winner, although Rice was close in stoppage time.
Fabianski 7; Coufal 7, Diop 5, Ogbonna 6, Cresswell 6; Rice 6, Soucek 7; Bowen 7 (Yarmolenko 80), Benrahma 5 (Snodgrass 88), Fornals 5 (Lanzini 46, 6); Haller 6.
Guita 7; Ward 7, Kouyate 6, Dann 7, van Aanholt 6; Townsend 7 (Schlupp 85), Milivojevic 6, McArthur 6, Eze 7 (Ayew 76); Zaha 6, Benteke 7.
David Coote 6
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