Crystal Palace have been praised by Declan Rice after recording a 4-3 win over West Ham at Selhurst Park earlier on Saturday.
The south Londoners moved up to the magic 40-point mark in the Premier League in SE25 to practically ensure their top-flight status for another year.
Now, Roy Hodgson’s side have received praise from Rice.
What’s the story?
Well, the £62,000-a-week England international told BT Sport: “Credit to Palace, they defended well, really stopped us. The three in midfield for them worked really hard to stop me and Lucas (Paqueta) getting on the ball. It just wasn’t enough today in terms of duels won, second balls, it wasn’t enough all over the pitch.”
The Eagles had 60% possession at Selhurst Park, taking 16 shots at goal in comparison to West Ham‘s eight attempts as they romped to a 3-1 lead after just 30 minutes as WhoScored shows.
It was a terrific display from Crystal Palace, and a result which leaves West Ham just five points above the relegation zone with five games to play.
In regards to the Eagles, they move above Chelsea into 11th – it would take a truly remarkable sequence of events for Crystal Palace to be relegated now.
West Ham could have a nervy ending after Crystal Palace result
Looking at the fixture list, West Ham could be in for a difficult ending to the campaign after today’s result in south London.
The Irons still have to play Manchester City and Manchester United, while there are also tricky encounters against Brentford, Leeds and Leicester to come.
In particular, those final two games look set to be relegation six-pointers unless West Ham do something special against the Manchester sides.
With a UEFA Europa Conference League Semi-Final to think about as well, David Moyes has a huge task on his hands.
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