MATCH FACTS
- Date – 24th September 2016
- Venue – Stadium of Light
- Attendance – 38,941
- Referee – Anthony Taylor
- Bookings – Puncheon, Cabaye
- Goals – Defoe (39, 60), Ledley (61), McArthur (76), Benteke (90)
- Star Eagle – Christian Benteke (8.6)
TEB VERDICT
Missing Scott Dann and Wilfried Zaha was always going to be a concern as was going two goals down on the hour mark but the players showed terrific spirit to not only get back into the game, but to snatch all three points.
PLAYER RATINGS (courtesy of Who Scored)
30 Steve Mandanda (6.0) – Hard to argue the fact that the French stopper has not experienced a loss since playing his first game for the club.
2 Joel Ward (7.0) – Solid performance in a defence that was not quite as organised as usual.
5 James Tomkins (6.9) – The centre back pairing did not particularly click at times but the former Hammer certainly showed what he can bring to the side.
27 Damien Delaney (7.0) – Took the captains armband and lead with the usual heart on his sleeve but clearly missed the usual calmness of partnering Dann.
34 Martin Kelly (6.4) – Struggled throughout on the less natural left back slot for him. Replaced by 19 Zeki Fryers (7.0) on 75 minutes who took no time at all to grab an assist with a superb cross for the equaliser.
18 James McArthur (8.2) -Unfortunate to just miss out on the Star Eagle award as he was simply superb throughout this game and got on the score sheet as well.
7 Yohan Cabaye (6.3) – Looked very much out of sorts and a surprise start for the game considering how well the midfield played the previous weekend. On the end of a hard challenge that he never really got over. Replaced by 21 Connor Wickham (6.2) on 73 minutes and worked hard against his former club, won the all important free kick at the death.
42 Jason Puncheon (7.3) – Close ball control and possession was a real asset as the game went on. Replaced by 14 Chung-yong Lee (6.7) on 90 minutes. One touch is all he needed for an assist that set up the winning goal.
16 Joe Ledley (7.1) – Awful mistake to hand the hosts their opener but worked hard and got his reward with the opener for Palace at an all important time.
10 Andros Townsend (6.7) – Kept working hard even if not everything was coming off for him. Couple of great chances – one from a free kick and a left effort that just went wide.
17 Christian Benteke (8.6) – The Belgian may not have scored in the rout last week but he will score all important goals in tight games like today. Excellent all round performance.
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 13 Wayne Hennessey, 44 Ben Wynter, 22 Jordon Mutch, 26 Bakary Sako
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID
“This game takes away from you a lot, but it does give it back to you. Last season I thought we deserved to win here but we didn’t. Today we were excellent, disappointing to be two down but we wouldn’t give in and, in the end, scored three excellent goals. We played some terrific stuff, and though Joe Ledley made an error, his finish to score was typical of the man – he has spirit and character. Benteke is always a threat, and he had a couple of chances. With his goal, it was a great delivery and a clinical finish. We are confident at the moment and we produced.” – ALAN PARDEW courtesy of BBC Sport.
“We couldn’t defend well enough. We went two up, though perhaps not justly. But we didn’t tighten up. We didn’t give ourselves a chance. We have to take responsibility throughout the side – why did we not stop Benteke’s run? He got a jump on us and it’s beyond me. This can’t always be led by a manager – players have to take responsibility on the pitch. We needed to stand up and assume responsibility, but we weren’t capable of doing that.” – DAVID MOYES courtesy of BBC Sport.
MATCH STATISTICS
The Who Scored man of the match was Christian Benteke (8.6) who also had the most shots (8) in the game. Sharing the most tackles (3) were Papy Djilobodji, Duncan Whatmore, Martin Kelly and Joe Ledley while Adnan Januzaj and Andros Townsend made the most dribbles (3).
- Team rating: 6.59 – 6.96
- Total shots: 11 – 20
- Shots on target: 4 – 4
- Possession: 46% – 54%
- Pass success: 71% – 74%
- Dribbles: 8 – 6
- Aerials won: 21 – 22
- Tackles: 14 – 17
- Corners: 3 – 5
- Dispossessed: 17 – 17
POSITION IN THE TABLE
The win moves Palace onto ten points from six games played and into seventh place, two points from Manchester United in sixth and on the same points as Chelsea in eighth.
