Marc Guehi scored a stunner on what could be his Crystal Palace farewell as the Eagles thrashed goal-shy Aston Villa 3-0 on Sunday.
England defender Guehi has been heavily linked with a move to Liverpool before Monday's transfer deadline but he put aside that speculation with the stand-out moment of a superb Palace display at Villa Park.
By contrast, Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was not involved amid rumoured interest from Manchester United and his replacement Marco Bizot had a night to forget.
The Dutchman conceded the penalty from which Jean-Philippe Mateta gave Palace a 21st-minute lead and was then beaten by Guehi’s curler and a close-range header from Ismaila Sarr in the second half.
That emphatically ended Villa’s 19-game unbeaten home league run and, to compound their frustration, they are now the only side in the top five divisions of English football yet to score a goal.
Villa had actually made a strong start with Youri Tielemans heading over from a corner but Palace held firm and soon took control.
Their opening came after 20 minutes as the brilliant Guehi, not looking at all unsettled, found Mateta with a superb ball.
The Frenchman then played in Daichi Kamada and the Japan international looked to have the beating of Bizot until the keeper stuck out a leg and tripped him.
There was little dispute over the subsequent penalty decision and Mateta calmly rolled the ball into the bottom corner.
Villa tried to respond quickly and summer signing Evann Guessand, making his home debut, thumped a shot at Dean Henderson but Palace looked comfortable.
Guehi’s name was loudly chanted by the visiting fans and the centre-back found time to acknowledge them with brief applause.
It was not until the closing stages of the first half that Villa threatened again as Ollie Watkins latched onto a long punt upfield from John McGinn but he shot straight at Henderson.
Villa raised the tempo after the break but a Tielemans shot was punched away by Henderson and the keeper then got down low to turn away a deflected Morgan Rogers effort.
Palace had to reorganise when the influential Adam Wharton was forced off injured in the 56th minute, a blow that might also be felt by England coach Thomas Tuchel having named the midfielder in his latest squad.
Palace weathered the storm and Guehi produced a moment to savour on 68 minutes.
He brought the ball forward and was still on the edge of the box when a poor Ezri Konsa clearance rolled into his path. He quickly set himself and bent a fine shot beyond the reach of Bizot and into the top corner.
If it does prove his sign-off, it was some way to say goodbye.
Things then got worse for Villa as Wharton’s replacement Jefferson Lerma launched a long throw into the area and Maxence Lacroix flicked on for Sarr to head home at the back post.
That prompted an exodus of Villa fans but some stayed and made their annoyance clear at the final whistle.
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West Ham eased the pressure on Graham Potter as three late goals saw them move off the foot of the Premier League following an extraordinary 3-0 victory at Nottingham Forest.
Potter's position as Hammers head coach has been under increasing scrutiny after his side were thrashed by Sunderland and Chelsea in the league and knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Wolves in midweek.
But captain Jarrod Bowen's strike gave them the lead after 84 minutes before Lucas Paqueta's penalty and Callum Wilson's first West Ham goal handed Potter just his sixth win in 23 matches in charge of the club.
As well as collecting their first points of the campaign, West Ham kept a clean sheet having shipped 11 goals in their last three outings against a Forest side who desperately lacked a cutting edge.
Potter's opposite number Nuno Espirito Santo has had a tumultuous past fortnight of his own after admitting his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis had become strained and the pair are set for clear-the-air talks during the international break.
If there were talking points aplenty surrounding both clubs off the pitch, there were few on it once the action started, with Hammers frontman Niclas Fullkrug twice heading over from corners early on.
Forest's summer signing Dan Ndoye got in behind the defence on a couple of occasions but his end product was lacking, while Callum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White were unusually out of sorts as the hosts struggled to make an impact in the final third.
As misplaced passes and errors piled up from the hosts, West Ham had the best chance of a tepid first 45 minutes when debutant Mateus Fernandes, a €46million signing from Southampton, found space on the left and pulled back to Paqueta, whose first-time strike was tipped over by Matz Sels.
Having failed to find the target in the opening half, Forest finally tested Mads Hermansen within a minute of the restart but an unmarked Chris Wood directed a tame glancing header straight at the Hammers goalkeeper.
Either side of a three-minute break for a fan being treated in the stand, Paqueta miscued wide at the near post before Sels beat away Fullkrug's strike as the game started to open up.
While Forest were dictating the tempo as rain started to fall, it was West Ham who continued to have the better chances, with Wilson almost making an instant impact upon his introduction after the hour when his deflected strike was clawed over by Sels.
The lively Wilson again tested Sels but when fellow substitute Crysencio Summerville was upended after a driving run, the loose ball fell to Bowen, whose low first-time effort beat the Forest keeper.
Summerville charged forward again moments later and was tripped in the area by Ibrahim Sangare, who has this week been linked with a move to West Ham, leading to Paqueta calmly slotting home the resulting 88th-minute penalty.
Wilson, who moved to West Ham this summer following his release from Newcastle, then added further gloss to the scoreline by heading home from El Hadji Malick Diouf's left-wing cross in added-on time.
As Forest fans streamed for the exit, matters might have worsened for them after Bowen slalomed into the box, only to be denied by an excellent save from Sels.
