Dimitri Payet nails another free-kick as West Ham held by Palace

West Ham 2 Crystal Palace 2

Dimitri Payet added another exquisite free-kick to his collection but Dwight Gayle dented West Ham’s Champions League hopes by snatching a 2-2 draw for Crystal Palace.

Payet, fresh from stunning strikes at Manchester United and, for France, against Russia, conjured up another sublime set-piece at Upton Park.

But West Ham lost Cheikhou Kouyate to a straight red card before substitute Gayle’s first Premier League goal of the season earned Palace a valuable point in their bid to steer clear of relegation trouble.

Damien Delaney had earlier given Palace the lead after a mistake by Hammers keeper Adrian, only for Manuel Lanzini to equalise.

Bakary Sako’s 15th-minute free-kick from the right appeared to be curling out of play until, at the last moment, Adrian decided it might creep inside his far post.

But as the Spaniard attempted to gather the ball he inadvertently scooped it back into play, allowing Delaney to nod into an empty net.

Palace’s lead lasted less than three minutes before Michail Antonio raided down the right and crossed to the back post.

Diafra Sakho’s header back across goal was intercepted by Scott Dann, but cleared only as far as Lanzini who smashed it back past the defender and into the net.

Such has been Payet’s prowess with free-kicks lately that Eagles boss Alan Pardew even warned his side not to commit fouls within 30 yards of goal.

Yet Payet had already sent one sighter over the crossbar when Joel Ward chopped the Frenchman down 25 yards out, four minutes before half-time.

Pardew looked resigned to his fate as he trudged back to his seat in the dug-out while Payet weighed up his options.

Palace keeper Wayne Hennessey left plenty of room to his right, expecting Payet to reprise his spectacular recent efforts.

However, as Hennessey began to move right Payet, rather than lift the ball over the seven-man wall, calmly curled the ball round it into the opposite corner to give West Ham the half-time lead

But the hosts’ afternoon began to turn sour in the 67th minute when Kouyate was shown a straight red card for his lunge on Gayle.

Palace had already been denied an equaliser when Aaron Cresswell cleared Sako’s shot off the line after Adrian had gone walkabout.

And with 15 minutes to go both West Ham's centre-halves, Angelo Ogbonna and Winston Reid, made a mess of Pape Souare's cross allowing Gayle to lash in the equaliser.

Bournemouth 0 Manchester City 4

Returning forward Kevin De Bruyne got Manchester City's Champions League push back on track as they thumped Bournemouth 4-0 at the Vitality Stadium.

Fit-again De Bruyne ran City’s south coast show as Manuel Pellegrini’s men secured their first Premier League win since March 5th, keeping them in fourth place.

Fernando, De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero struck to put City 3-0 ahead and end the contest inside 20 minutes, before Aleksandar Kolarov blasted a fourth at the death.

The imperious De Bruyne’s willingness to drive beyond Aguero transformed City’s recently stilted play, creating vital extra space for both the lone striker and playmaker David Silva.

The 24-year-old Belgium star offered the pivotal contribution in his first outing since suffering a ligament injury in late January.

Pellegrini’s side all-but slipped out of the title race with five defeats in 11 matches in all competitions since the February 1st announcement that Pep Guardiola would take over as manager next term.

De Bruyne’s absence effectively ran alongside that sluggish run, and there was little coincidence around City’s immediate improvement on his return.

City can ill afford to rest their Champions League qualification hopes on winning Europe’s elite tournament, in which they face Paris St Germain in the quarter-finals.

So the importance of this resounding victory stretched far beyond purely boosting confidence — City will view their win as the catalyst to sewing up that fourth-place finish, especially with West Ham and Manchester United circling.

Bournemouth fired out of the blocks but that spark quickly fizzled out as five minutes of dominance quickly gave way to a quarter-hour blitz that settled the tie.

Fernando fired home his first goal of the season after Bournemouth failed to clear Jesus Navas’ poor corner, as City took the lead after seven minutes.

The visitors quickly doubled their advantage with the best move of the match. Charlie Daniels surrendered possession cheaply, Aguero chipped in to Silva who laid off to De Bruyne, and the Belgium forward swept home on the volley.

After Aguero lofted it to Silva, the next time the ball touched the ground was when it hit the back of the net.

Cue the spring sunshine, cue the exhibition football from City.

De Bruyne fired over from 20 yards when he could so easily have buried a second, but City wasted little time adding their third.

Navas’ persistence paid off when he reached an over-hit pass to keep the ball in play and stand up a cross to the far post.

Aguero did the rest, out-muscling and out-jumping the Bournemouth defence to loop a header back across goal and over the bamboozled Artur Boruc.

Fernandinho hit the bar from 20 yards with Boruc beaten again, before Bournemouth finally rallied.

Steve Cook’s glancing header forced Willy Caballero into his first meaningful save of the day from Matt Ritchie’s teasing cross as the hosts at least fought to make a fist of things.

City took their foot off the gas after the break, doubtless eyeing Wednesday’s Champions League last-eight first leg in Paris.

Pellegrini withdrew De Bruyne before the hour, and Silva just after it.

Eunan O’Kane scuffed a shot badly wide when through for Bournemouth, and City wasted several half-chances, before Kolarov fired an unstoppable fourth for the final word.