Free-scoring West Ham survive late scare to beat struggling Crystal Palace

West Ham 3-2 Crystal Palace: The Hammers held off late pressure after taking a comfortable lead against Palace, who lost a second derby defeat in a week following the humiliating 3-1 defeat against bitter rivals Brighton

West Ham beat Crystal Palace 3-2 and secured a third straight Premier League victory thanks to a pulsating second-half performance that was a vast improvement on their first.

It was also a trio of wins featuring three goals in each, which the Hammers hadn't achieved since 1982 when John Lyall was the manager.

Goals from Robert Snodgrass, Javier Hernandez and Felipe Anderson turned out to be just enough to shade a London derby that began with James McArthur's early Palace opener and was kept interesting when substitute Jeffrey Schlupp made it 3-2 with 15 minutes remaining.

Palace made the busier start but the game's first chance belonged to the hosts, with Hernandez denied by a smart stop with his legs by Wayne Hennessey, the Eagles goalkeeper.

The worth of that save increased dramatically when the visitors took the lead within two minutes. James Tomkins, one of two ex-Hammers in the Eagles ranks, met van Aanholt's free-kick at the back post with a header that allowed McArthur, negligently unattended by the home defence, to poke past the exposed Lucasz Fabianski from six yards out. The goalkeeper got a touch on the shot but that merely slowed down the ball's inevitable trundle into an empty net.

Lucas Perez had been handed his first Premier League start for West Ham since he joined for £4m from Arsenal in the close-season. The Spaniard replaced the injured Marko Arnautovic, who is likely to be missing for a month, during the midweek victory over Cardiff and scored twice in a 3-1 win.

Having set Hernandez up for that early chance he then lashed a shot of his own narrowly wide after Arthur Masuaku, out-jumped by Tomkins for the goal, had crossed from the left. The half ended with Luka Milivojevic pinging a free-kick off the Hammers' crossbar and the second started with Andy Carroll replacing Perez.

Crystal Palace suffered their second derby defeat in two weeks (Getty)

Within four minutes the Hammers were level through Snodgrass. Pablo Zabaleta's nothing cross from the right was headed away by Mamadou Sakho but straight to the Scot to launch a curling left-footer inside Hennessey's near post.

Sakho almost diverted a Zabaleta shot into his own goal soon after, and Palace were forced into a change when van Aanholt had to be replaced by Jeffrey Schlupp.

Max Meyer had been kept quiet but popped up in the box to force Fabianski into a save to keep the score level.

Again it was to prove pivotal as a goal arrived at the other end straight away after Tomkins fouled Carroll. Hennessey palmed away Anderson's free-kick but Hernandez had anticipated and smashed in the rebound.

Anderson, set up by Hernandez, made it 3-1 three minutes later, in the 65th minute. The Brazilian took a touch before curling across Hennessey, who had no chance.

Schlupp headed home Mayer's cross with 15 minutes remaining to give Palace hope of an equaliser but no clear chance followed.