Crystal Palace hold on to beat West Ham in 4-3 thriller

LONDON : Crystal Palace scored three rapid-fire goals in the first half and then held on to beat West Ham United 4-3 in a full-throttle thriller on Saturday, lifting them further away from the Premier League's relegation zone.

Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha and Jeffrey Schlupp netted for Roy Hodgson's Eagles in a frenzied 15-minute stretch in the first half, and Eberechi Eze slotted a penalty past Hammers keeper Lukasz Fabianski in the second.

Tomas Soucek, Michail Antonio and Nayef Aguerd scored for David Moyes' men in the battle of London rivals.

Technical trouble at the turnstiles caused a 15-minute delay to kick-off but the end-to-end action at a sun-drenched Selhurst Park was well worth the wait with five goals in the first half alone.

The win meant Palace leap-frogged Chelsea into 11th place in the table on 40 points after 34 games - two more than Chelsea have played. West Ham dropped to 15th, five points clear of the drop zone with five games remaining.