Premier League round-up: Palace edge West Ham, Brighton thrash Wolves, Forest let it slip

Drama as Roy Hodgson's men clinch thriller against Hammers, Seagulls hit Midlanders for six and Steve Cooper's relegation battlers suffer last-gasp collapse

Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha celebrates after scoring their second goal in the 4-3 Premier League win against West Ham United at Selhurst Park on April 29, 2023. AFP

It was a day of high drama in the Premier League on Saturday as three games produced a massive 16 goals between them.

In the early kick-off, Crystal Palace beat West Ham 4-3 to move into 11th place in the table on 40 points – traditionally the threshold for Premier League survival.

Later, Brighton blew Wolves away with a 6-0 win on the South Coast and relegation battlers Nottingham Forest let a 1-0 lead slip to lose 2-1 against Brentford at the Gtech Stadium.

First up, in a game delayed by 15 minutes due to problems with ticket-reading machines at Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace produced a superb response to going 1-0 down to Tomas Soucek's ninth-minute opener for the Hammers.

Roy Hodgson's side grabbed three goals in a brilliant 15-minute spell through Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha and Jeffrey Schlupp.

Michail Antonio got one back for Hammers 10 minutes from half-time before Eberechi Eze grabbed a fourth for Palace from a controversial penalty in the 66th minute.

The spot kick was awarded for a foul by Nayef Aguerd on Eze, who he was judged to have pulled back. Although there was minimal contact, VAR upheld the original decision.

Aguerd then made it 4-3 with a glancing header from a corner to set up a tense finish but Palace held firm to take all three points.

Hodgson, who returned to the club to replace Patrick Vieira last month, said: "Pleased with the victory. In the six games we have played we lost one and arguably we shouldn't have lost it. I believe we have done enough to survive. It's up to the players now."

On the South Coast, Brighton continued their push for a place in Europe next season by hammering Wolves 6-0.

Deniz Undav opened the scoring for Roberto de Zerbi's side after just six minutes before Pascal Gross made it 2-0 shortly afterwards.

Gross then grabbed his second with a swerving strike into the roof of the Wolves net after a superb Brighton move. It was 4-0 before half-time as former Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck got in on the act with a close-range header.

Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui made three changes at half-time but couldn't stop the rot. One of the substitutes, Nathan Collins, gave the ball straight to Welbeck three minutes after the restart and the forward fired home from the edge of the box to make it 5-0. Undav then capped a woeful afternoon for Wolves by grabbing his second in the 66th minute.

Brighton manager De Zerbi said: "The best game as a coach. Today we showed our quality because we suffered a lot against Man United in the semi-final, we suffered a lot enduring the Nottingham Forest game. I changed five players from that game and they had a fantastic game. I'm very happy."

In West London, relegation battlers Forest held the lead against Brentford at the Gtech Stadium until the 82nd minute after Danilo grabbed a vital goal in first-half stoppage time.

But an equaliser from Ivan Toney from a freekick and a winner from Josh Dasilva in the fourth minute of second-half injury time broke the Midlanders' hearts.

Forest manager Steve Cooper said: "It's a tough one to take. We were comfortable. I felt the game would be decided on small margins. Unfortunately, decision-making we made around the two goals cost us."