Palace draw piles pressure on Spurs and is Hammers blow for Wolves
LONDON — West Ham's 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace on Monday condemned Wolves to relegation from the Premier League and boosted its own survival bid to leave struggling Tottenham deeper in trouble.
Bottom of the table Wolves have long been destined for the drop, and their descent into the Championship was confirmed by the stalemate at Selhurst Park.
Wolves are now 16 points behind fourth-bottom West Ham, with a maximum of 15 available from their last five matches.
After eight seasons in the topflight, Wolves succumbed tamely, winning just three of their 33 league matches to date this term.
Despite notable recent wins against Aston Villa and Liverpool, Wolves have looked relegation certainties for months and their eight-year stay in the Premier League is coming to an end.
Vitor Pereira, now in charge of Nottingham Forest, started the season in charge of the Molineux club, but the Portuguese coach was sacked in early November after a terrible start to the campaign.
Former Middlesbrough boss Rob Edwards was brought in, but he had an almost impossible task and has been unable to work a miracle.
Second-from-bottom Burnley looks certain to join Wolves in the second tier next season.
It will be relegated if it loses against title-chasing Manchester City on Wednesday.
The Hammers' draw improved their own survival prospects, moving them two points clear of Tottenham, which tops the drop zone.
Tottenham's 2-2 draw against Brighton on Saturday was a boost to West Ham, with the two London rivals having five games left in the fight to avoid relegation.
Tottenham, winless in its first two games under boss Roberto De Zerbi, hasn't played in the second tier since 1977-78.
The north London side has gone 15 league matches without a win stretching back to December.
Last in the Championship in 2011-12, West Ham's biggest league win for three years, 4-0 over Wolves nine days ago, moved it out of the bottom three for only the second time in 2026.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side built on that result with a gritty point against UEFA Conference League semifinalist Palace.
Palace's win at West Ham in September sparked Graham Potter's sacking and Nuno's eventual appointment as his replacement.
Since then, Nuno has gradually revived West Ham, and from Jan 17 onwards, only four Premier League teams have picked up more points than the Hammers.
West Ham threatened first in the game against Palace when Valentin Castellanos fired over from the edge of the area.
Brennan Johnson should have put Palace in front from Tyrick Mitchell's cross, but the unmarked forward headed wastefully wide.
Johnson tried to make amends, curling narrowly wide from 18 yards, but it was West Ham which finished the half stronger, with El Hadji Malick Diouf's cross reaching Konstantinos Mavropanos for a towering header that forced a fine save from Dean Henderson.
Mavropanos had another header repelled by Henderson after the interval.
Palace winger Ismaila Sarr was denied a late winner when he slammed home from close range, only for the goal to be disallowed for a handball by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
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