James Ward-Prowse vows West Ham will bounce back from 'embarrassing' Crystal Palace defeat

West Ham midfielder James Ward-Prowse vowed his side would bounce back from their "embarrassing" 5-2 Premier League drubbing at Crystal Palace when they host Liverpool on Saturday.

The hosts were 3-0 up inside the first 20 minutes at Selhurst Park in part thanks to an Emerson own goal before Jean-Philippe Mateta made it four in the 31st minute. Just one of the Irons' goals scored by Antonio late in the first period could be rightfully claimed by the visitors, who benefitted by a late second-half own goal by Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

A seething David Moyes did not mince his words after the contest, branding his side's display as one of the worst he had witnessed in his career and, while Ward-Prowse was more measured than his boss, he was no less dismayed.

Ward-Prowse told the West Ham website: "It was nowhere near good enough. Embarrassing on our part.

"We had a fantastic night in the week (Europa League), albeit we didn't get through, but we showed what I believe a West Ham team should look like.

"We were front-footed, aggressive. You can talk about the way you play with the ball and stuff, but I think out of possession, we didn't show anywhere near enough aggression or togetherness and I think that ultimately cost us."

READ MORE: David Moyes 'embarrassed' by display of his West Ham players against Crystal Palace

READ MORE: Xabi Alonso aims subtle dig at David Moyes after furious Europa League bust-up with West Ham boss

Eighth-placed West Ham, who sit 12 points below Tottenham in the Europa League place, even before the Palace defeat already looked to require a near-perfect end to their season if they had any hope of securing another season of European football.

Moyes' men impressed in their 1-1 Europa League quarter-final second-leg draw with Bundesliga leaders Leverkusen on Thursday night, but like his manager, Ward-Prowse refused to use the turnaround as an excuse for Sunday's poor performance.

He said: "If we want to be a top team and be real contenders for European places, you can't perform like that against one of the best teams in the world (Leverkusen) and then come here and get beat in the way that we did.

"We have to consider what sort of team and what sort of players we want to be, whether we want to be real European contenders or not."

The Hammers next host title-chasing Liverpool, another side made acutely aware of Palace's capability to throw a wrench in a club's ambitions after their own 1-0 loss to the Eagles at Anfield the previous week.

Ward-Prowse added: "There's still lots of football to play for and this is the business end of the season, so we know every game is magnified in that way, but I think it's a fantastic game to bounce back and hopefully give the fans something to cheer about."

Earlier this season, when Palace were routinely failing to score, but establishing themselves as league leaders in conceding late, their own protest banner-raising supporters might have reacted more strongly when Henderson allowed Tyrick Mitchell's back pass to roll across his goal line.

They barely seemed to pay mind to that late gaffe on a celebratory south London Sunday, when their side were leading by more goals in the first 31 minutes than they had scored in any league game this season.

The dynamic duo of Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise not to mention another excellent afternoon for Mateta provided a tantalising glimpse of what the 14th-placed Eagles' season might have looked like, had so many of their top talent not been struck down by injury.

Oliver Glasner, now two months into his appointment as Palace boss, seemed similarly enticed by his side's potential next campaign, saying: "It's important now to stay humble, to keep this level they have.

"We have four more weeks to keep this high and when we start next season, of course, the benchmark will be higher for them."