LONDON ¨C West Ham United was?left wondering whether it was one point gained ?or two points dropped as a lackluster?0-0 draw at Crystal Palace left it hovering just above the Premier League relegation zone on Monday.
Victory would have put Nuno Espirito Santo¡¯s resurgent side four points above third-from-bottom Tottenham Hotspur with five games left, but the stalemate leaves ?it in peril.
West Ham stays in 17th place with 33 points from ?33 matches ?with 18th-placed Tottenham on 31 from the same number of ?games. It also has an inferior goal difference to Tottenham.
West Ham hosts Everton on Saturday while Tottenham is at bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers, whose relegation was confirmed by ?the draw at Selhurst Park.
¡°A very tough, balanced match. It could have gone both ways,¡± the ?West Ham manager, whose side was seven points from the safety zone in mid-January, told Sky Sports. ¡°It will go all the way, for ?sure. Not only at the bottom ?of the table but at the top. This season has been very tight.
¡°We have a mission ahead and keep going.¡±
Monday¡¯s ?London derby would ?have been closely followed in north London with Tottenham desperately ?hoping that Palace would do it a favor in the relegation scrap.
The ?closest ?West Ham came to scoring was a powerful Konstantinos Mavropanos header from El Hadji Malick Diouf¡¯s cross in the first half that produced a reflex save from Dean Henderson, while Taty Castellanos had a bicycle kick blocked.
Palace, which has its eyes on a Conference League semifinal, was second-best in the opening period, although it should have scored when Brennan Johnson, Tottenham¡¯s match-winning hero in last season¡¯s Europa League final, somehow headed off target to extend his goal drought.
Johnson also curled a much better ?effort ?just wide.
Palace bossed the second period and substitute Ismaila Sarr did ?have the ball in the net but his effort was ruled out for a ?handball by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Palace¡¯s sixth 0-0 draw this season stretched its unbeaten run in the league to four games and it stayed in 13th place in the standings with 43 points.
Manager Oliver Glasner offered support for Johnson, who is ?yet to score in 19 appearances for Palace since switching from Tottenham in the January transfer window.
¡°He was a big threat today. It¡¯s not just goals the attackers score, he did very well out of possession. It was a good step in the right direction,¡± he said.
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