Hammers skipper Noble said: "Palace are a really good side. They made it difficult for us. They've got some good players, but we should have definitely scored in the first half with the chances that we had.

"We didn't play as well as we can do, but we scored a really good goal and the we then got two massive decisions that went against us, which was frustrating.

"Sometimes they go for you, sometimes they go against you, but it seemed as though everything went against us.

"With the handball, I don't think Dec knew anything about it. Then the offside decision was millimetres, so it's very frustrating.

"After we got the breakthrough, everything went against us."

Ayew had to wait for more than two minutes to celebrate his third goal of the season.

VAR checked both his position when he prodded the ball home, and that of Martin Kelly who nodded down Andros Townsend's cross.

"Sometimes you need a bit of luck and I think we deserved three points," Ayew told Palace TV.

"It was a tight game but we're lucky and we'll take it."