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Patrick Vieira believes West Ham’s superior ‘maturity’ saw them beat Crystal Palace on Saturday evening.

The Eagles lost 3-2 at Selhurst Park after a troublesome first half in which West Ham scored three times. Michail Antonio put the Irons in front before Manuel Lanzini beat Vicente Guaita with a wonder goal.

Lanzini secured his brace from the penalty spot in first-half injury time. Luka Milivojevic was adjudged to have handled in the box, allowing Lanzini to slot home from 12 yards.

Palace put up a fight and got one back in the 83rd minute. Odsonne Edouard tapped home from a Michael Olise cross.

20-year-old Olise then got a goal of his own when West Ham failed to deal with his late free-kick. But it was not enough as David Moyes’ side took home the three points.

During a post-match interview with Sky Sports (via BBC Sport), Vieira said: “It is really difficult because we played some good football and created a lot of chances to win the game.

“We are disappointed because I think we were the better team. But the difference between the two sides is that they have been building for a few years now. This is a mature team. The experience allowed them to win.

“At times we were naive. Also unlucky. We had the best first chances and hit the post. We have to learn and improve. To play well is not enough to win football matches.

“You have to give them credit. When they had the chances, they took them. We had a couple we did not take.”

Vieira added: “We are learning in a hard way. Conceding those two goals… with more maturity we handle the game in a different way. We will learn. We should at least get a point today.

“It is the character of the team. We lack experience but what we have is players who look like our fans, who believe to the final minute. We were close but West Ham will be very happy with the win.”

On the penalty: “It is a referee decision. From where I was it is difficult to see at first. I have had chance to see it after and I think it is a penalty.”

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Palace could easily have won – Andersen

Centre-back Joachim Andersen said: “We’ve played West Ham two times now and both times we have dominated them. I think we should win this game easy. They had two chances and a penalty which isn’t a penalty. We should win this game.

“Maybe we should have scored a bit earlier. We scored late which makes it difficult but we had a chance to make it 3-3.”

On West Ham’s penalty: “For me his arm is close to his body so it isn’t a penalty. It’s obvious it isn’t a penalty.

“We had so many chances in the first half and that gave us the hope. We spoke at half-time that we will create the chances we just had to take them. The penalty made it difficult at 3-0 before half-time. It’s a tough one to take.”

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