West Ham draw at Crystal Palace confirms Wolves' relegation

LONDON: West Ham United's goalless draw away to Crystal Palace on Monday confirmed Wolves' relegation from the Premier League, while also strengthening the Hammers' bid to stay up.

Wolves, who are bottom of the table, had appeared headed for the drop for some time. Their return to the Championship was mathematically sealed after West Ham picked up a point at Selhurst Park. Wolves are now 16 points behind fourth-bottom West Ham, with only 15 points still available from their final five matches.

After eight seasons in the top flight, Wolves have gone down following a difficult campaign in which they have won only three of their 33 league games so far. Although they recently recorded notable victories over Aston Villa and Liverpool, they had looked increasingly likely to be relegated for months.

Vitor Pereira began the season in charge at Molineux, but the Portuguese coach was dismissed in early November after a poor start to the campaign. Pereira is now in charge of Nottingham Forest. Former Middlesbrough manager Edwards was then appointed, but he has been unable to turn things around.

Second-bottom Burnley also appear likely to go down. Their relegation will be confirmed if they lose to title-chasing Manchester City on Wednesday.

For West Ham, the draw improved their chances of survival. The London club moved two points above third-bottom Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham's 2-2 draw against Brighton on Saturday had already helped West Ham, with both sides having five matches left in the battle to avoid relegation.

Tottenham are still looking for their first win under Roberto De Zerbi and have not played in the second tier since the 1977-78 season. Their current league run without a victory has stretched to 15 matches, dating back to December.

West Ham, who last played in the Championship in 2011-12, had climbed out of the bottom three only for the second time in 2026 after beating Wolves 4-0 nine days earlier, their biggest league win in three years. Nuno Espirito Santo's side followed that result with a hard-earned point against Crystal Palace, who are UEFA Conference League semi-finalists.

"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," Nuno said, adding, "We have a mission ahead and keep going. It's going to be a fight until the end."

Palace's win at West Ham in September had led to Graham Potter's dismissal and eventually to Nuno's appointment. Since January 17, only four Premier League teams have collected more points than West Ham.

Match chances at Selhurst Park

West Ham created the first opening when Valentin Castellanos shot over from the edge of the penalty area. Palace then had a strong chance to go ahead through Brennan Johnson, who headed wide from Tyrick Mitchell's cross despite being unmarked.

Johnson later went close again with a curling effort from 18 yards. West Ham ended the first half on the front foot, with El Hadji Malick Diouf delivering a cross that found Konstantinos Mavropanos, whose powerful header was saved by Dean Henderson.

Mavropanos tested Henderson again with another header after the break. Palace thought they had found a late winner when Ismaila Sarr finished from close range, but the goal was ruled out for handball by Jean-Philippe Mateta.