Once again, it was Wilfried Zaha who ended up being the pantomime villain for Watford in this fixture but the Palace man had the last laugh by scoring the goal which sees the Vicarage Road side return to the Championship.
DATE
7th May 2022
RESULT
Crystal Palace 1-0 Watford
VENUE
Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU
OFFICIALS
Referee: Graham Scott. Assistants: Richard West, Matthew Wilkes. Fourth official: Tony Harrington. VAR: Kevin Friend. Assistant VAR: Harry Lennard.
DISCIPLINE
BOOKINGS – Hassane Kamara (16), Will Hughes (64), Josh King (84), Michael Olise (90+3)
RED CARD – Hassane Kamara (68)
GOALS
Wilfried Zaha (31)
ASSISTS
None
TEB VERDICT
Palace started the game well and had a twenty minute spell with the visitors not getting anywhere near them. That did drop off as the first half went on but were handed the chance to take the lead from the spot which Zaha netted for the 13th this season. Watford were poor and showed just why they are going down which was perhaps lucky for the Eagles as they struggled to find a second to kill off the game, but it was not needed. That makes it three unbeaten for with three left to play and a real chance of a top ten finish.
PLAYER RATINGS
1 Jack Butland (7), 17 Nathaniel Clyne (7), 6 Marc Guehi (7), 16 Joachim Andersen (7), 2 Joel Ward (7), 23 Conor Gallagher (6), 12 Will Hughes (7), 10 Eberechi Eze (7), 7 Michael Olise (7), 22 Odsonne Edouard (7), 11 Wilfried Zaha (7)
SUBSTITUTES – 3 Tyrick Mitchell (6 – replaced Guehi on 73 mins), 4 Luka Milivojevic, 5 James Tomkins, 8 Cheikhou Kouyate, 9 Jordan Ayew, 13 Jean-Phillipe Mateta (6 – replaced Zaha on 83 mins), 15 Jeffrey Schlupp (6 – replaced Gallagher on 63 mins), 19 Remi Matthews, 20 Christian Benteke
OPPOSITION LINE-UP
1 Foster, 21 Femenia, 15 Cathcart, 22 Samir, 14 Kamara, 19 Sissoko, 39 Kayembe, 8 Cleverley, 23 Sarr, 7 King, Dennis
SUBSTITUTES – 2 Ngakia, 4 Etebo, 5 Troost-Ekong (replaced Samir on 78 mins), 11 Masina (replaced Dennis on 73 mins), 12 Sema (replaced Cleverley on 52 mins), 16 Gosling, 26 Bachmann, 27 Kabasele, 28 Kalu
POST GAME QUOTES
PATRICK VIEIRA – “It was a good win. I don’t think it was our best performance but it was important to win and I’m happy with that result.
“To win by more you need to create chances. We created a couple in the first half but we didn’t create enough in the second. We didn’t move the ball quick enough to create those chances. I’m happy with the result but I wanted more from the team.
“We just have to keep challenging ourselves and keep improving. It wasn’t our best performance and we managed to get the win, to control the game and we’ve shown improvement from the start of the season. On that side I’m really pleased because we’re growing, players are getting more confidence and we are more solid as a team.”
ROY HODGSON – “It wasn’t the result we wanted but I think we were rather hard done by because the players are convinced that Kamara was pushed in the back and that’s what provoked the penalty decision. But I don’t feel hard done by by the team’s performance. I thought they did extremely well against a very good Palace team and we remained competitive right to the end. Given our situation, I think that’s a sterling effort from the players.”
MATCH STATISTICS
The Who Scored man of the match was Ben Foster (7.8) while Eberechi Eze and Wilfried Zaha (3) had the most shots. The most tackles were made by Will Hughes (5) as the most dribbles were by Michael Olise (5)
- Team rating: 6.86 – 6.35
- Total shots: 15 – 6
- Shots on target: 7 – 1
- Possession: 67.7% – 32.3%
- Pass success: 85% – 70%
- Passes: 533 – 248
- Dribbles: 12 – 5
- Aerials won: 14 – 17
- Tackles: 11 – 16
- Fouls: 11 – 18
- Corners: 8 – 5
- Saves: 1 – 6
- Dispossessed: 8 – 7
POSITION IN THE TABLE
At the final whistle, Palace were 9th in the Premier League with 44 points from 35 games played, level with Brighton in 10th and 6 points behind Wolves in 8th.
UPCOMING FIXTURES
15/05/22 Aston Villa (a) – Premier League (2pm)
19/05/22 Everton (a) – Premier League (7.45pm)
22/05/22 Manchester United (h) – Premie
