West Ham hold on for precious point to confirm Wolves relegation
Taty Castellanos tries an overhead kick after Dean Henderson’s misjudged punch, but finds Maxence Lacroix in the way - Jordan Pettitt/PA A hard-fought point from a London derby eased West Ham’s relegation fears only slightly but it was enough for Wolverhampton Wanderers’ demotion to the Championship to be confirmed. Tottenham hopes that Palace might do them a big favour proved unfounded, although Oliver Glasner’s hosts did manage to put the ball in the West Ham net, only for it to be ruled out. NO GOAL!
Sarr has the ball in the back of the net but the whistle blows for handball against Mateta ❌ pic. twitter. com/GViD1pKDDq — Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 20, 2026 West Ham ended the evening two points clear of third-bottom Tottenham instead of the four they had been hoping for, but it was another solid performance from Nuno Espírito Santo’s steady improvers.
Victories for relegation rivals Leeds United and Nottingham Forest over the weekend heaped extra pressure on to the shoulders of the visitors, but Tottenham’s failure to beat Brighton on Saturday, courtesy of a late Albion equaliser, was a morale-booster for a squad that appeared doomed at the start of the year following back-to-back defeats at the hands of Wolves and Forest. Much was made too, especially by Spurs fans, of Palace’s decision to allow their squad to party on the streets of Florence with supporters on Thursday night to celebrate seeing off Fiorentina to reach the last four of the Uefa Conference League. Oliver Glasner, the Palace manager, refreshed his starting line-up with four changes, with Adam Wharton ruled out by an injury picked up in Italy.
Maxence Lacroix was also hurt against Fiorentina, in a collision with team-mate Daniel Muñoz, but had perked up enough to start this one Jefferson Lerma, Will Hughes, Brennan Johnson and Jorgen Strand Larsen were recalled, with Daichi Kamada, Ismaila Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta dropping to the bench. Unsurprisingly, Nuno stuck with the West Ham side who beat Wolves 4-0 nine days previously, the result that put Tottenham into the bottom three for the first time. Strand Larsen poked Palace’s first chance wide at the near post after Jaydee Canvot had stopped Crysencio Summerville bursting through at the other end.
West Ham’s first opportunity arrived in the 14th minute when Taty Castellanos was too high from the edge of the box, but the game’s next chance was a big one and badly squandered. Palace spent £35m on bringing in Johnson from Spurs in January, but the man whose slight touch won the Europa League final last season went into the game having failed to impress or score for his current club. Brennan Johnson missed a glorious chance to open the scoring in the first half - Jordan Pettitt/PA The Wales winger passed up a great opportunity by heading Tyrick Mitchell’s cross wide while unmarked from 10 yards out.
Continue to the original source for the full article.