West Ham restored their two-point lead over Tottenham and the bottom three with a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace, while Wolves were relegated from the Premier League.
Tottenham endured a difficult weekend but the result opens the door for Roberto De Zerbi’s side in a fight for survival ahead of Saturday’s trip to Wolves, who became the first team to be relegated from the top flight this season after an eight-year stay.
West Ham spent another week outside the drop zone but may look back on it as a missed opportunity after seeing wins at Nottingham Forest and Leeds and Spurs taking a big step forward in their performance.
Opta rates West Ham as having the toughest final fixture of all the sides fighting at the bottom, with games against Everton, Brentford, Arsenal, Newcastle and Leeds still remaining.
Manager Nuno Espirito Santo failed to create any big openings in the second half and almost gave up a late goal when Ismaila Sarr’s strike was ruled out for a needless handball by Palace teammate Jean-Philippe Mateta.
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Ismaila Sarr was denied the Crystal Palace opener after a Jean-Philippe Mateta handball.
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West Ham’s Konstantinos Mavropanos had his header blocked by a superb save from Dean Henderson.
An acrobatic attempt by West Ham’s Tati Castellanos late in the first half was saved by Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix, who overcame an injury scare to open after Dean Henderson’s errant punch almost left the goal.
Henderson made amends immediately after the mistake by making a good save to deny Konstantinos Mavropanos. The West Ham defender, who scored twice against Wolves, could have done better, perhaps because his header was too close to the goalkeeper.
Former Tottenham winger Brennan Johnson is yet to score since his £35m move in January. He dismissed a glorious opportunity to give Palace an early lead ahead of the game, heading a header wide when not fully marked in the box.
Despite all the talk of Palace potentially being eliminated following Thursday’s celebrations in Florence after reaching the Conference League semi-finals, Oliver Glasner’s side finished the game stronger and extended their unbeaten run to four games, moving them up to 13th place.
Did West Ham gain a point or lose two points?
west ham captain Jared Bowen to sky sports:
“Probably both.
“Palace have done really well at home and are feeling really good after reaching the European semi-finals. We knew it was going to be really difficult and we had to defend really well.
“We had a few opportunities to go in on different days. We came here to win the game.
“But I don’t think the point here is the worst thing in the world.”
previous west ham receiver Dean Ashton to Sky Sports:
“The way Crystal Palace played, and even the way they played in the first half, it felt like a small opportunity that West Ham missed.
“They had enough chances to score that goal in the penalty area.
“But it’s not an easy trip to Crystal Palace so we need a positive result now.”
Nuno: Relegation fight will go till the end
west ham president Nuno Espirito Santo to Sky Sports:
“We did well. We were organized and compact. It was a tough game. Our attacking process, our combinations were not working – the last ball, the last touch.
“The game was well balanced. They were in difficult form to play against. They had a lot of success. It was difficult because they were good players. They couldn’t find any gaps. They were a threat on the counter-attack.”
“We are strong. We will fight until the end.
“We will definitely go all the way, not just at the bottom but also at the top. This season has been very tight.”
Glasner: The players had the right answer after the Florence celebration.
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner:
“Maybe they expected us to be a little tired and unfocused. And I said (to the players), ‘It’s you who has to answer’. It’s not what I want that’s important, it’s the players. Yes, I think they showed that.”
“They gave us the right answer: they are focused, committed and willing to really work hard until the end.”
Analysis: Why this feels like a missed opportunity
Ginnie Boswell on Sky Sports:
If Nuno Espirito Santo’s prediction proves correct, we will have to wait until the final day of the Premier League to answer for sure whether this was a missed opportunity for West Ham. The inescapable reality for the Hammers is that Tottenham will celebrate a draw at Palace.
No one can be picky about when points are awarded in a bottom battle, but in this case, timing was everything. Tottenham may have failed to win again, but there were clear signs of improvement before Brighton equalized in the second half.
A win would have dashed those hopes, West Ham would have moved four points clear and Tottenham would have fallen into a position that only five teams in Premier League history can survive. Instead, they will likely be out of the drop zone on Saturday.
Tottenham go to already relegated Wolves, who are clearly the team most likely to win their first league title in 2026, while the Hammers go to European chasers Everton. Both matches kick off at 3pm and are of huge importance in the relegation fight due to a potential shift in momentum.
West Ham have a much tougher fixture schedule. The next three matches are against teams who will either qualify for Europe or compete for the Premier League title, and all eight of this season’s league wins have come against teams currently at the bottom of the table.
Predicting how Spurs will play is a fool’s game, but there’s every chance the weight will be lifted once they end their wait for a first league win of the year. Now West Ham can only hope that doesn’t happen on Saturday.
Opta Statistics
- Crystal Palace are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games (W2 D2) and have gone on an even longer unbeaten run in the league in their opening six games of the season (W3 D3).
- West Ham United have kept clean sheets in back-to-back Premier League games against Arsenal and Leicester City for the first time since February 2025.
- Crystal Palace kept their 12th clean sheet of the season, having only kept more in the 1994-95 Premier League campaign (15). In fact, since Oliver Glasner’s first game in charge in February 2024, only Arsenal (36) and Manchester City (32) have kept more clean sheets in the league than Palace’s 28.
- This is Crystal Palace’s sixth goalless draw in the Premier League this season, and the most by a team since Newcastle United (7) in 2022-23.
