Hammers only 'scratching the surface' of potential says Moyes as Irons climb to fourth in the table

David Moyes believes West Ham are only just beginning to explore the great potential he says he sees in his squad.

The Hammers were very impressive in Tuesday night’s 3-2 victory at Crystal Palace – a win that took them up to fourth place in the Premier League.

Their sixth straight win was a triumph of confident, slick football which ought to have been rewarded with a far bigger winning margin.

“We are getting better and we are an improved team, but I think we are not scratching the surface yet. I think we have so much more we can give," said the Irons’ boss.

“Part of a manager's job is to raise expectations at your football club but I will not try and be stupid because West Ham have done it too often and maybe got it wrong.

“I am going to be a bit more steady and sensible if I can. But I am ambitious, I want to manage teams at the top of the league and be competing in the competitions if I can.

“And the players are giving me every hope, they're doing a great job and they have been exceptional in the way they have played and they want more - I can sense it in the dressing room."

Moyes said the key to the night’s success was the quick recovery after going a goal down in the opening minutes.

“It was really important that we got a goal back,” he said. “Palace have got a really good record of scoring goals early and we didn’t start awfully well and to get the goal back made a big difference.

“I thought we played very well and actually had another gear in us if we needed to do it. Being up near the top is what I want.

“I want to have a club that can keep trying to keep those standards up. I want to try and build something that’s there for a long period and not just a short time.”

Eagles boss Roy Hodgson said: “I thought we lost to the better team. Our first-half performance was nowhere near as good as we expected to be and as a result, we found ourselves coming in at half time 2-1 down.

"Second half we lost it to the set play and when you are 3-1 down, even though we had a bit of a spurt in that period it's very hard to score two goals against a team of West Ham's quality and they took the points deservedly."

Palace have now won just one in 10 but Hodgson says he does not think that statistic is a true reflection of the way his side are playing.

“We’ve had some very good draws in that period against top teams. But we need to add to our points tally and need to do it quickly. We have to ensure we give a better performance on Saturday [against Wolves] than we did today.”