West Ham United took another important step towards safety, claiming a potentially vital Premier League (PL) point in a London derby goalless draw at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace, who missed the chance to secure three consecutive home wins in all competitions for the first time this season.
Having advanced to the semi-finals of the UEFA Conference League, Palace could be forgiven for taking their eye off the ball in the league.
However, 13 points from their last seven games heading into this one (W4, D1, L2) suggested that Oliver Glasner’s side were up for the fight in an evenly-matched opening quarter-hour.
Brennan Johnson has struggled to make an impact since joining the Eagles, and his frustrations continued in the first half as he skewed a free header off-target, shortly before whipping a strike wide of Mads Hermansen’s post.
West Ham responded with a positive spell of their own, almost capitalising on a mistimed Dean Henderson punch with a goal-bound Taty Castellanos bicycle kick that was blocked by Maxence Lacroix.
And the best chance of the half arrived just before HT, but Konstantinos Mavropanos couldn’t continue his rich vein of goalscoring form as his towering header was pushed away by Henderson.
