A disappointing London derby defeat to West Ham put an end to Palace's unbeaten run. Here's Alfie Davis's look back.
Fielding a team in reasonably good form, Alan Pardew’s side hosted West Ham, who themselves had only gained three points once prior to Saturday night’s game. Off the back of a midweek hat trick and fastest goal in European Qualifier history, Christian Benteke led the line for the Eagles.
Disappointingly however, Palace looked more like the familiar team of recent years, who’ve failed to deliver against faltering teams on winless runs. Frustratingly downbeat results such as this leave bitter tastes amongst fans, and rightly so, as the absence of clean sheets and leakiness at the back have proven costly on numerous occasions.
The opening minutes looked fairly even, and both sides were relatively lively as an attacking tone was evident. In the eighth minute, Wilfried Zaha was presented with an opening after Jason Puncheon recycled the ball, only for him to miscue the shot as he put the ball wide.
Just before the twentieth minute, West Ham drew first blood and opened proceedings. Aaron Creswell’s pass was met by Manuel Lanzini, who notched it into the back of net. Palace, from then on, found it difficult to establish any foothold for predominantly the majority of the tie.
In the 44th minute, Benteke was taken down inside the penalty area and was presented with the opportunity for Palace to go into the break a one a piece. However, Benteke seemed to lose his cool in front of the Hammer’s keeper Adrián, as his resulting shot flew away from goal, squandering the biggest opportunity for us to get back into the tie.
Oddly, Yohan Cabaye hasn’t been chosen for the starting line up as of late, and put his mark on the game as the second half started. Another absentee was Scott Dann, who couldn’t make the starting line up having just returned from injury – the lack of leadership and assurance within the side was evident, and we often looked vulnerable in various positions. With Loïc Rémy scheduled to back around the fifth of November, our options in all positions become stronger, as currently we’re looking one dimensional and thus predictable to the opposition.
Altogether the result wasn’t what some pundits had predicted, and put a dampener on hopes that Palace have the credentials to fight for position to enter into the Europa League. Given that everyone is fledged fully fit, winning games will be more likely, particularly in these sort of ties where we get results. Lacking in clinical ruthlessness proved costly at times, and hopefully the result was a minor blip that won’t bare any psychological unrest on the team.
Saturday’s trip to Leicester is a difficult match, and their squad will have to pick themselves up and try to gather as many points as possible, despite a Champions League fixture in mid-week possibly hindering their sharpness on the day.