West Ham’s thrashing away to Crystal Palace has all but killed any hope of securing another season of European football.

For a team that plays defensive football, West Ham really do struggle to keep the ball out of their net. An utterly embarrassing display from the Hammers saw Crystal Palace cruise to a 5-2 victory.

Palace took the lead 7 minutes into the match through an Olise header. Fabianski came out to collect the cross but was nowhere near getting the ball. While it was a good cross from Andersen, it was awful defending too.

Just 9 minutes later, the host doubled their advantage through an Eze bicycle kick following a saved shot. Shortly after, a lack of communication between Fabianski and Emerson saw the defender put the ball in the back of his own net.

Mateta would then score their fourth following even more woeful defending. However, the Hammers did manage to pull one back before the break as Antonio bundled the ball into the back of the net.

Any sort of hope of a comeback was crushed though as Mateta got his second of the game, with Eze getting a wonderful assist by nutmegging Kurt Zouma. A horrible mistake from Dean Henderson gave West Ham their second goal but it was purely a consolation at that point.

No matter what excuses are given, the amount of heavy defeats the Irons have suffered this season is inexcusable. Even those who didn’t play on Thursday looked uninterested and there was not a single positive to take from the game.

Moyes has spoken about how he likes working with a small squad but that is the exact reason his side have bottled getting another season of European football. If he is unable to manage a bigger squad then that simply isn’t good enough for a team who wants to be pushing on to the next level.