Roy Hodgson believes Crystal Palace have lifted themselves out of the relegation battle after they edged closer to mathematical safety with a thrilling 4-3 victory over West Ham at Selhurst Park
Palace produced a scintillating response to Tomas Soucek's early opener as Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha and Jeffrey Schlupp struck in the space of 15 first-half minutes to seize control of the game, but the Eagles' vulnerability at set-pieces would repeatedly offer West Ham lifelines
After Michail Antonio reduced the deficit from a corner before the break, Palace restored their two-goal lead midway through the second half, with Eberechi Eze winning and converting a penalty
 But back came West Ham again, with Nayef Aguerd nodding in to atone for his foul on Eze and set up a grandstand finale
West Ham's potency at set-pieces was not matched by their overall attacking output, though, as Palace held on for a first Premier League win in three which lifts them up to 11th in the table and sees Roy Hodgson's side reach the coveted 40-point mark with four games to play
 West Ham remain 15th, five points clear of the relegation zone with five games left to guarantee safety
"Before you start asking the question, yes, I think we are safe!" Hodgson said
"We are where we are purely because we have good players, the club's recruitment has been so good in rejuvenating the team I worked with previously
 The club can look forward to a platform where they can hope to push forward
"After a 15-minute delay to kick-off due to turnstile issues at Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace started as though they were making up for lost time in attack but paid the price for being careless in defence as West Ham took the lead
 Michael Olise's poor defensive header from a corner fell for Soucek, who lashed in his third goal of the season from 12 yards
Palace's response was swift and ruthless, with Ayew firing a shot in at the near post to restore parity five minutes later before Zaha, making his first since April 1, hooked in at the back post to complete the turnaround on 20 minutes
West Ham's loss of defender Kurt Zouma to injury was compounded two minutes later when Schlupp dispossessed the dithering Soucek and raced clear before slotting in Palace's third
But Palace's frailty at dead balls came back to haunt them as Antonio reduced the arrears with a close-range header after Soucek had flicked a corner on at the near post
Palace were aggrieved not to be awarded a penalty in first-half stoppage time after Zaha was hauled down in the area by Vladimir Coufal, but referee Craig Pawson did point to the spot on 66 minutes after Aguerd was adjudged to have tugged Eze as he raced through on goal
After a VAR review Eze stepped up and sent Lukasz Fabianski the wrong way as Palace established a 4-2 lead
 It would last just six minutes, with Soucek flicking another corner on at the near post for Aguerd to bundle into the Palace net, but it proved too little, too late for the below-par Hammers to stage a comeback
"Before you start asking the question, yes, I think we are safe! The players showed incredible energy
 I couldn't be more delighted with how my players overcame the slaps in the face that we got after taking a two-goal lead
"You've got to develop an incredible resilience to be a top-class footballer
 What I see in this group is the makings of a very good team and a large streak of resilience and determination
"We are where we are purely because we have good players, the club's recruitment has been so good in rejuvenating the team I worked with previously
 The club can look forward to a platform where they can hope to push forward
""VAR has prided itself on not giving soft penalty kicks away this year, but that would go down as a very soft penalty
"I'm more frustrated by the way we played the whole game
 We didn't play well, Palace showed more quality, played better
 Over the years I've prided myself on my teams being pretty hard to beat and play against, today we weren't hard to beat or play against
 That is the most galling bit for me
"But two huge decisions have gone against us this week which could have meant we didn't lose the points
 It's fine lines at the moment between us getting something from games and not
"West Ham travel to Manchester City on Wednesday at 8pm - live on while Crystal Palace head to Tottenham on Saturday at 3pm
May 6: (A) - Premier League, kick-off 3pmMay 13: (H) - Premier League, kick-off 3pmMay 20: (A) - Premier League, kick-off 3pmMay 28:  (H) - Premier League, kick-off 4
30pmMay 3:  (A) - Premier League, kick-off 8pm, live on May 7: (H) - Premier League, kick-off 7pmMay 14:  (A) - Premier League, kick-off 2pmMay 21:  (H) - Premier League, kick-off 1
30pmMay 28:(A) - Premier League, kick-off 4
30pm
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>