Crystal Palace 0-2 West Ham: Soucek and Bowen earn Lopetegui first win

Julen Lopetegui has his first win in charge of West Ham as a resounding second-half performance earned a 2-0 victory away to Crystal Palace.

Having made a slow start, West Ham were able to ride out the pressure and claim the points thanks to goals from Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen.

Eberechi Eze had chances to open the scoring for Palace in the first half but struggled to hit the target before Soucek drilled his opener through a crowded box in the 67th minute.

Bowen then punished the hosts by rounding off another quick counter-attack with a fine finish five minutes later to rule out Palace’s hopes of a first win this season.

West Ham are off the mark, with their three points moving them up to seventh, while Palace are down in 18th without a point so far.

First win

Let’s keep building, together pic.twitter.com/wXenZU8vQ6

— West Ham United (@WestHam) August 24, 2024

Data Debrief: Lopetegui off the mark

After a disappointing start to life with the Hammers in the Premier League, Lopetegui made sure he got his first three points on the board sooner rather than later.

This is the first clean sheet that West Ham have kept in the competition since a 0-0 draw with Brighton in January, ending a 19-game run without a shutout in the top-flight.

Meanwhile, since the start of last season, Eze has recorded at least three shots and created three chances in eight Premier League games (five shots, four chances created on Saturday). Indeed, he has only netted one goal in those matches.