To find out how Palace faired in 2015 and how they reached the League Cup Semi Finals, click here.
January
2016 gave Palace the worst possible start as Moussa Dembélé and Erik Lamela ensured that Virgil Van Dijk’s first Premiership goal was nothing more than a consolation in Tottenham’s 2-1 win at Selhurst Park.
Encouraged by the success in the League Cup, Pardew put out a strong side for the FA Cup match against Swindon. The quality on show was too much for the Robins as the Eagles ran out as 4-0 victors, with braces from both Marouane Chamakh and Charlie Austin, securing progress in the competition.
It wasn’t long before Palace made their first signing of the January Transfer Window. £7.5m was enough to secure the signing of Stade Rennais striker Ola Toivonen. The Swedish striker had been in good form in Ligue 1, scoring 10 goals in 17 games and would now battle with an in-form Charlie Austin to lead the line for the South London side.
The new signing arrived at Selhurst Park with a knock so was unable to make his home debut in the 3-0 defeat to Chelsea.
Parish opened up his chequebook for a second time as Pardew recruited South African International, Itumeleng Khune, for a bargain price of £675k. The goalkeeper was drafted in to provide competition for club legend Julian Speroni and Welsh International Wayne Hennessey.
Semi Final First Leg
Bolstered by the return of new signing Toivonen from injury, it was time to welcome Swansea to Selhurst Park for the first leg of the League Cup Semi-Final and the former PSV striker was straight into the starting lineup for the home leg.
Keshi Anderson returned to the team to lineup alongside Toivonen, after scoring in the previous round against Manchester City and Hiram Boateng made his first start of the season alongside Barry Bannan in midfield.
And it was Anderson again who used his pace well to score inside two minutes. New signing Tovoinen doubled their lead after he trickled the ball in off the post to put Palace in a commanding position at half time.
However, Swansea hit back through a thumping Bafetimbi Gomis free kick and then equalised with 25 minutes to go through Jonjo Shelvey.
As Palace looked for a late winner, Tovoinen ensured it was an eventful debut for the striker after unfairly receiving a straight red. Pardew was furious in his press match conference and the ban was subsequently rescinded as the match finished 2-2.
In the next few days, it was announced on the official website that Damien Delaney’s contract had been mutually terminated after failing to make a single league appearance. The Former Irish International had been kept out by the terrific form of Van Dijk, Dann and Muniesa and was now free to join the MLS.
A trip to Cardiff in the FA Cup ended in a 0-0 draw and just three days later, the spotlight was shifted back along the M4 onto the Liberty Stadium for the second leg. Tensions were high, not just because of the magnitude of the game, with the prestige of a trip to Wembley being just 90 minutes away but because the last time the two teams met at the Liberty, Palace had ended the game with nine men after four players were taken off injured.
Despite putting out the strongest side possible, Pardew’s side went 1-0 down after just 7 minutes. Scott Dann brought down Andrew Ayew and the Ghanaian dusted himself off to coolly slot the spot kick past Speroni to take a crucial lead.
Matters got even worse for the South London side as Ledley, Ward and Bolasie all limped off with injuries in the space of ten minutes and Palace had used up all their substitutions by the thirtieth minute. It was looking like the Battle of the Liberty all over again.
Clearly inspired by Pardew’s half time team-talk, the Eagles were a completely different proposition in the second half. Toivonen began the comeback with a poorly hit free-kick from the edge of the area to equalise.
Palace were still behind on away goals but it was that man again who was their hero on the night. The Swedish forward collected the ball in the box, following a Jonny Williams cross and struck it past Lukasz Fabianski to send the Eagles into their first ever League Cup Final.
The club had booked their place at Wembley to face Chelsea and were now one step away from glory thanks to the brilliant performances of Chamakh, Williams and Tovoinen.
Palace played Swansea for a third time, this time in the league and again avoided defeat in a 1-1 draw. Jonny Williams gave the Eagles the lead before Michu equalised from close range.
Cup hero Keshi Anderson sealed a loan move to Inverness to round up the Transfer Window for Crystal Palace.
Elsewhere, Arsenal were the biggest spenders of the transfer period, shelling out £15m for Bernard and also acquiring Chris Smalling and João Moutinho. Ryan Shawcross also joined Chelsea as a future replacement for John Terry and Victor Wanyama left the Premiership for Serie A.
Daniel Sturridge and Troy Deeney led the scoring chants, both locked on 14 goals. Juan Mata had made the most assists and also won the most Man of the Match awards , whilst his teammate, David De Gea, was leading the clean sheet table, just ahead of Tim Howard by virtue of less games played.
Palace were now 9th in the table and although qualifying for European Football through a top seven finish was slipping away from their grasp, there was still a fantastic chance of qualifying through the League Cup, with Chelsea the only obstacle in their path.
