Crystal Palace Creep Up the Table

 1-0 

Last-place Crystal Palace hosted West Ham United in the rare Tuesday Premier League match.  Crystal Palace have had a tough go in the Premier League with only two wins and two draws in the first thirteen games played.  A change in management was made just days ago, and new manager Tony Pulis had the home side in better shape than the former manager Ian Holloway.

Crystal Palace took the lead late in the first-half with a second-effort chance following a set-piece.  Barry Bannan played a cross into the box that found Marouane Chamakh right in front of goal.  The forward flicked his header towards the back corner and scored for the home side (42').

West Ham created more chances over the course of the match, but could not find the equalizer.  Offsides were the biggest problem for West Ham with a total of eight ending attacking chances.  Also starting center-forward Carlton Cole struggled to get involved and had no shots on goal by the time he was pulled out before the hour mark.  Ravel Morrison was active in the attack, but too many times he made the mistake of taking on too many defenders only to lose possession.

Crystal Palace now sit one place above Sunderland at the bottom of the Premier League with the win today.  West Ham are only five points better than Crystal Palace and need to get their offense going if they don't want to end up in a relegation battle late in the season.  Up next Crystal Palace host Cardiff City and West Ham get a tough test playing Liverpool at Anfield.