Wilfried Zaha denies West Ham fans’ claims he was spitting at Declan Rice during Palace’s 2-1 win

WILFRIED ZAHA has denied spitting at Declan Rice during Crystal Palace’s 2-1 win at West Ham United on Saturday afternoon.

The Ivorian claims that the Hammers supporters have “made up lies” after they responded angrily to footage emerging of Zaha’s alleged spit at the England international as the ball was running out of play.

The talismanic Palace star has taken to Instagram to strongly deny the allegations.

While lying on his bed, he said: “Let me clear something that the West Ham fans are trying to make up.

“On your own video, you can see that Declan runs in front of me and I spit to the right.

“So please don’t make up lies that I spat at someone. I have never done it and I never will.

“So please, let’s just accept that we won the game and move on.”

Palace fans were quick to jump to their star’s defence on social media.

One user wrote: “Wilfried Zaha spits in the same stadium as Declan Rice and West Ham fans are calling for a ‘6 game ban’. Talk about the saltiest fanbase in the Prem, can’t accept they got beat fairly yesterday #CPFC #WHUCRY #WHUFC”.

Another responded to a complaining West Ham fan by saying: “No he didn’t. Look at how fast rice was moving and where he went off camera. Zaha spits way to the right”.

It was a bad afternoon for the Hammers and Rice in particular, as the West Ham academy graduate handballed in the penalty area when his side were 1-0 up – giving Patrick van Aanholt the chance to equalise.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side had gone 1-0 up through Sebastien Haller’s finish from a neat move.

But Jordan Ayew’s instinctive finish gave Roy Hodgson’s side all three points as they climbed to fourth in the table.

The Hammers meanwhile could have gone third if they had held on to their lead.

Despite giving away the penalty, Rice has had an impressive season that has lead to talk of a potential £80million megabucks move to Manchester United.