‘Really good start’ – Crystal Palace defender pleased with five-star win over West Ham ahead of Newcastle and Fulham

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace saw off London rivals West Ham United 5-2 on Sunday to move within one win of Premier League safety for another season.

The victory, coupled with a 1-0 win at Anfield against Liverpool one week earlier, saw back-to-back wins for the first time in the league this season as the Eagles look to end their 2023/24 campaign on a high.

“It was dope,” said Crystal Palace and USA defender Chris Richards after the demolition of the east London team at Selhurst Park. “We had good momentum from last week and brought it into the game this week. We know it is a big week for us and it was a really good start.

“We watched film and we saw the good things we did against Liverpool. We understood that if we do that against the best team in the league, we can do it against any team, so we tried to bring the good things that we did last week and use them in the game today – the result showed.”

Richards returned to the Eagles starting 11 for the first time since the end of March after he missed three games due to a knee injury picked up away at Nottingham Forest.

And he was quick to heap praise on the defensive unit to the side and in front of him, including wing-backs Daniel Munoz and Tyrick Mitchell, plus the central midfield duo of Adam Wharton and Will Hughes.

“It’s a perfect mixture,” said the 24-year-old about the players around him. “We have the two guys on the wings that are just flying and then we have the two guys in the middle that are more for control and a bit more ‘finesse’ players.

“It’s a good mix and it makes our job easier. We just need to defend and get the balls to those guys who are really good at it and who are really comfortable with it.

“It felt good,” added Richards about his return from injury. “It’s been a few tough few weeks, sitting on the sidelines and watching everybody play. I’m glad to glad to be back on the pitch and hopefully can finish off the season really strong.

“Everybody’s working pretty cohesive right now and that’s been the reason why we have succeeded as of late.”

That cohesiveness saw Ebere Eze, Adam Wharton, Michael Olise, Will Hughes and Joachim Andersen all involved in the build-up to the opening goal, headed in by Olise in the seventh minute, before Eze and an own goal from Emerson extended the Palace lead to 3-0 inside the opening 20 minutes.

Jean Philippe Mateta would go on to score two goals, punctuated by a Michail Antonio strike for West Ham before Dean Henderson in the Palace goal sliced a pass back into his own net in the final minute to end the match 5-2.

And for Richards, the team ethic behind the opening goal on Sunday – just like the winner at Anfield, which saw 21 passes provide Eze with the winning strike – made the win even sweeter.

“The attacking players tend to get the wrap of scoring the goals, but it makes us feel good when everybody’s touched the ball when it’s a team play where we completely break down the team rather than just a one-on-one goal. It brings us a lot of pride,” he added.

“But it’s not really something we work on. We just work on getting it to the guys who are good on the ball and they do whatever they need to do to score, but it gives us a big sense of pride knowing that everybody touched the ball, everybody shared it.”

With the win, Richards and his Palace side are now one win from safety in a season which has had its fair share of disappointment.

But the central defender is only looking forward to the future and controlling the destiny of himself and his team.

“We view every game as a day to get better, a day to prove ourselves,” he said. “We understand that some teams are safe (from relegation) and some teams are still in limbo right now, but we try not to worry about too much what’s going on around us. We just try to go out and get three points every game.

“Oliver brought a lot of good stuff to us; a lot of good ideas, a lot of good values. We’re just trying to bring it all on board and hopefully finish out the season,” added Richards about new manager Glasner, who took over the role just eight games ago.

“Then, at the beginning of next season, hopefully we will have a good preparation and lead into the beginning of next season and really compete.”