The return of Christian Benteke lived up to expectations as the forward secured all three points for Aston Villa on a night where the result could have been very different.
Neil Warnock made two changes from the side that faced Swansea City on the weekend where Crystal Palace came back from 1-0 down in the opening quarter of the game to finish level; Wilfried Zaha came in to replace Jason Puncheon on the wing who drops down to the bench after starting in the last two games whereas James McArthur who featured as a game-changing substitute on Saturday replaced Joe Ledley who missed the game due to a slight groin strain. Eagles youngster and U21 player, Hiram Boateng took McArthur’s place on the bench which he held against Swansea.
Crystal Palace started the better of the two sides with opportunities being created freely in the opening 18 minutes of the game by both wingers and also from through balls via the midfield pairing. Wilfried Zaha was the winger who came out of the stables faster than the other in the opening exchanges of the game, trying to show Neil Warnock that he is the man that should be starting week-in, week-out with Villa’s shaky defence struggling to cope with his darting runs down the right-hand side of the pitch,
The attacking intent was clear from Palace on the night with a large amount of pressure being placed on the Villa defence throughout the first half and really, throughout the game; the Eagles came close on a number of occasions with one of the clear cut chances of the first half being from a Joel Ward corner which found Mile Jedinak in a defence-scrambling box who managed to flick the ball towards goal where it was stopped by goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
It was the unlikeliest team to score the opening and only goal of the game though as after a tremendous amount of pressure from Palace on the opposition, Christan Benteke who had just returned to action after suspension made the most of a mistake by Scott Dann who was reportedly being watched by England scouts after his impressive recent performances as he took the ball from his feet and ran towards goal before curling it into the bottom right hand corner past Speroni.
Struggling throughout the game to get decisions on their side, Crystal Palace had a strong penalty appeal turned down in the second half as Campbell who replaced Gayle at half-time was held by Aston Villa’s Clark in the area whilst a cross was being put into the area by Bolasie which left outspoken manager Neil Warnock furious.
It wasn’t just that decision that would leave fans and manager alike furious as later on in the second half, McArthur and Aston Villa goalkeeper, Brad Guzman both challenged for the ball before a free-kick was given to the opposition despite the Crystal Palace midfielder coming out second best in the collision after the goalkeeper landed on him.
Palace’s domination was still clear to see in the second half but the lack of a cutting edge continued with chances from both wingers Zaha and Bolasie, both contributing to shots on goal until the final seconds of the game but neither of them could find the goal that was bring Palace back level at Selhurst Park.
The problems for Palace were clear throughout as Warnock’s side managed to accumulate 17 shots on goal throughout the 90 minutes (the most they have registered this season) with only five of them causing any sort of bother for Guzan; the players’ desire was clear to see in the entirety of the game but the finishing of chances was very poor, making it clear to everyone that Palace’s main transfer target should be a striker to finish the chances that are being created.
Crystal Palace have much work ahead up in attack ahead of Saturday’s fixture against Tottenham.
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