Carroll's late leveller spares Hart's blushes

Andy Carroll's last-gasp equaliser spared Joe Hart's blushes after the West Ham goalkeeper made a costly blunder in Monday's dramatic 1-1 draw against Stoke. Stoke substitute Peter Crouch poked home from close-range after Hart made a hash of holding onto Xherdan Shaqiri's soft shot with just 11 minutes left at the London Stadium. The former Liverpool striker's first goal since November put relegation-threatened Stoke within touching distance of their first win in 10 games. But Carroll came off the bench to rescue West Ham with a superb volley in the 90th minute. It was a bitter blow for Paul Lambert's Stoke, who remain second bottom of the Premier League. Stoke are five points from safety with only four games left to avoid slipping into the Championship.

Welcome back @AndyTCarrollThe @WestHamUtd man has 3 goals in his last 3 #PL appearances - spanning January (2 games, 2 goals) & April (1 game, 1 goal) ? pic.twitter.com/n5ejrFoUwg

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 17, 2018

SUPER-SUB @petercrouch has 16 substitute goals for @stokecity in the #PL (level with Javier Hernandez) - only four players have more (Defoe 24, Giroud 19, Kanu 17 and Solskjaer 17) pic.twitter.com/wH5zF5V5Ci

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 16, 2018

Carroll's third goal of the season -- in his first appearance since January -- was a priceless contribution for West Ham, who are now seven points above the bottom three.   Although Hart was relieved his howler didn't cost West Ham all three points, his mistake did little to boost his chances of starting for England in the World Cup. It couldn't have come at a worse time with national team boss Gareth Southgate watching from the stands in east London. Hart's failure to impress came while his Stoke counterpart Jack Butland -- another contender for the England number one shirt -- produced a solid display. Butland made a vital save to keep out West Ham's best chance of the first half as Marko Arnautovic's point-blank volley hit his old team-mate in the face. Referee Michael Oliver was in charge of his first match since he caused a storm by giving Real Madrid a controversial penalty and sending off Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the Champions League last week. Oliver and his wife were subjected to social media threats over the incident that led to Juventus's elimination. On this occasion, he was involved in three disallowed West Ham goals. First, Arnautovic converted Aaron Cresswell's cross, but he had strayed marginally offside. Then a low Edimilson Fernandes drive flew past Butland but Arnautovic, this time clearly offside, was in the keeper's way. And after West Ham's equaliser, Javier Hernandez had a goal disallowed for a foul by Carroll.

Late, late drama at the London Stadium as both substitutes score and the points are shared between @WestHamUtd and @stokecity #PL #WHUSTK pic.twitter.com/DUww5S0FpZ

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 16, 2018

POINTS TABLE:played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, pointsMan City 33 28 3 2 93 25 87 -- championsMan Utd 33 22 5 6 63 26 71Liverpool 34 20 10 4 78 35 70Tottenham 33 20 7 6 65 30 67Chelsea 33 18 6 9 57 33 60Arsenal 33 16 6 11 62 45 54Burnley 33 14 10 9 33 29 52Leicester 33 11 10 12 49 47 43Everton 34 11 9 14 39 54 42Newcastle 33 11 8 14 35 42 41Bournemouth 34 9 11 14 41 56 38Watford 34 10 7 17 42 60 37Brighton 33 8 11 14 31 46 35West Ham 33 8 11 14 41 59 35Huddersfield 34 9 8 17 27 54 35Crystal Palace 34 8 10 16 36 54 34Swansea 33 8 9 16 27 46 33Southampton 33 5 13 15 33 53 28Stoke 34 6 10 18 31 64 28West Brom 34 4 12 18 27 52 24