West Ham left Selhurst Park with a point and a problem. The 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace on the weekend moved them two points clear of the bottom three, and then Wolves' relegation from the Premier League was confirmed after an eight-year stay.
The result restored West Ham's two-point lead over Tottenham and the bottom three, while Palace stretched their unbeaten run to four games and climbed to 13th in the table. It was not a game short of moments, just goals. Dean Henderson kept out Konstantinos Mavropanos in the first half, and Brennan Johnson squandered a clear chance by heading wide when unmarked.
Palace were also able to start Maxence Lacroix after he came through an injury scare, a boost after they celebrated reaching the Conference League semi-finals in Florence on Thursday. Jarrod Bowen said before kickoff that Palace were strong at home and riding the momentum of that European run, and West Ham backed up that warning by spending much of the afternoon defending with care.
The late drama came and went without altering the score. Ismaila Sarr had a goal ruled out after Jean-Philippe Mateta handled in the build-up, leaving Palace to settle for a point that still moved them up to 13th.
West Ham's position remains uncomfortable because the table gives them little margin for error. Opta rated them as having the toughest remaining fixtures among the teams fighting at the bottom, with Everton, Brentford, Arsenal, Newcastle and Leeds still to come. Tottenham, meanwhile, face Wolves next, with Wolves already down after their relegation was confirmed.
That leaves West Ham where they most wanted to be for now: outside the drop zone, but not far from it, and staring at a run-in that will ask more of them than this cautious draw did.
