Roy Hodgson praises Crystal Palace attackers for their performance in 4-3 win over West Ham

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has praised his attackers for their performance as they beat West Ham United 4-3 at Selhurst Park today.

Tomas Soucek put the Hammers in front early in the game off a set piece, but Palace were lively in attack and responded brilliantly.

Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha and Jeffrey Schlupp scored to give Palace a 3-1 lead.

West Ham pulled themselves back into it through Michail Antonio, but Eberechi Eze netted a penalty in the second half to ensure Nayef Aguerd’s late effort was only a consolation.

After the game, Hodgson said (via Palace’s official website): “Sometimes there’s one or two too many flicks, but they were good today.

“The goals we scored today were good goals. We kept sustaining attacks and then winning the ball back so well when they cleared it.

“If you’re going to become a good attacking team, you work and get the patterns of play how you want, but without the quality of the players nobody notices it.

“The way we’ve worked here is exactly the same as we did four years ago, but now the club is set up with a more potent set-up than before.

“We, quite frankly, were looking at two of the last three games being in the relegation battle. We aren’t in it anymore, as they’re no longer games that we would need to produce something to stay up.

“Now it’s up to the players. We’re going to keep working as staff, so it will be up to them to see if they can keep producing the performances they have in their last six [games].”

Palace have played six games since Hodgson took over, winning four, drawing one and losing one.

They have defeated Leicester City, Leeds United, Southampton and West Ham. They have climbed to 11th in the table, securing 40 points.

Palace have been scintillating in attack, but the challenge is to keep it up until the end of the season.

Hodgson noted that West Ham’s heavy schedule may have weighed them down, a point his West Ham counterpart David Moyes highlighted after the game.