This was West Ham’s chance to smash a first nail in Tottenham’s coffin, but instead they let the hammer slip through their fingers like sand.
Many have thought, for a few weeks, that Nuno Espirito Santo’s side simply have more grit and inspiration than their raddled relegation rivals. The events of this weekend have chipped away at that theory and left the rat race wide open with five games to go.
We’ll start with the positives for West Ham. They’re now two points clear of Spurs, which is a meagre gap, but it might already be enough. Tottenham have only managed two points in their last five matches.
And this, for all it was insipid, was a decent draw away at a team who might still qualify for Europe via the league. A clean sheet for the road. Nobody injured.
But you wonder if this is the sort of night the Irons will come to regret. Though they were sparing, West Ham had their chances – Taty Castellanos was denied several times by last-ditch defensive efforts or his own blundering feet, despite his good form recently.
These moments matter and West Ham know it. Tottenham’s atrophy surely can’t drag on much longer – they looked better against Brighton – and they have a perfect chance to claim three points against Wolves on Saturday.
What will disquiet Hammers fans is that their own fixtures don’t get much easier from here. They’ve still got Everton, Brentford, Arsenal, Newcastle, and Leeds, a run-in which Opta say is one of the toughest in the division.
The first half was one of those that made you question why we follow this sport: it was mostly drab, attritional, and bereft of quality. For a game with so much riding on it, neither team took it by the horns and, as the air cooled, the energy of its build-up dissipated.
Both teams were going through the motions. Kyle Walker-Peters swung in crosses to mannequins. Jefferson Lerma and Konstantinos Mavropanos aimed passes at the advertising boards, confusing vintage shirt ads for team-mates. Nuno Espirito Santo prowled his technical area, arms crossed, and grimaced.
The first convincing chance of the game came after 15 minutes, when Castellanos fired over the bar from the edge of the area after his attacking sidekick, Pablo, had muscled half of Palace’s team out of the way to smuggle the ball to him.
Brennan Johnson was the best player of the first half and should have given Palace the lead with a header from just yards out, but he nutted it wide. Within a minute he was booked for a retributive slide tackle on El Hadji Malick Diouf. Frustrations were building.
West Ham almost took a fortuitous lead when Chris Richards had the brass neck to try and pass it across his own goal but, to his horror, found Taty, whose touch was too heavy. Another chance went begging.
If anyone looked like seizing the affair, it was Johnson, and he almost found the bottom corner with a curling shot from the edge of the D, only for it to whizz past the post.
West Ham tried resorting to the spectacular. Taty threw convention to the wind and tried to bust the net with an overhead kick. Dean Henderson couldn’t reach it but Maxence Lacroix materialised to prevent the goal.
The half only really sprung into life with minutes to go. First, Mavropanos forced a strong save from Henderson with a bullet header, then Tyrick Mitchell charged the other end, alone in his head, but dragged his shot wide. Back to regular proceedings.
Palace were the better side after the break and pelted the visitors’ box with crosses. Mavropanos did well to foresee one and clear before Jorgen Strand Larsen could meet the ball.
In one of the only moments West Ham did look like scoring, Taty seized on a slip by Lerma to burst into the box with the ball, line up for a shot… and tumble himself.
West Ham made it too easy at times. Near the end, Lerma hit a limp shot clearly a yard or two wide, but Hermansen dived for it anyway and tipped it behind. The groans shook the away section and didn’t stop reverberating all night long.
Selhurst Park finally got to erupt after 82 minutes of waiting, but the joy was short-lived. Substitute Ismaila Sarr smashed in a shot from a metre out but it was immediately ruled out for a handball by Jean-Philippe Mateta. It felt fitting.
