Draw To End Season Secures Eleventh Place Finish For Palace

The long season came to an end at Selhurst Park where both sets of fans contributed to an excellent atmosphere to see out the campaign as Palace and Forest shared the points.

TIME/ DATE/ VENUE

• 4.30pm
• 28th May 2023
• Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU

RESULT

Crystal Palace 1-1 Nottingham Forest

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 8 Albert Sambi LOKONGA,17 Nathaniel CLYNE, 26 Chris RICHARDS, 38 Tayo ADARAMOLA, 41 Joe WHITWORTH

POSITION LINE-UP

UNSED SUBSTITUTES – 11 Jesse LINGARD, 17 Alex MIGHTEN, 23 Remo FREULER, 43 George SHELVEY

TEB VERDICT

The Eagles ended the campaign with a closely fought draw at Selhurst Park to see the club finish in a very respectable eleventh place in the Premier League, notably above Chelsea.

Roy Hodgson completed the mission he was assigned, and in some style. You have to give it to both him and Ray Lewington who returned the club at a time when many ridiculed even the mere mention of the possibility. They both came in and went about their business professionally and with a smile on their face. We have a lot to thank them for.

On the pitch, the result meant very little as both sides had achieved what they had set out to do and while Palace had much of the play and chances, the visitors put in a stubborn display to give their fans a point to celebrate.

While there could be others that depart over the summer, we had the chance to bid our fond farewells to Luke Milivojevic and James McArthur who have both given the club so much. Two very well respected and liked players during their time at Palace and they leave us with the fondest of memories.

POST GAME QUOTES

ROY HODGSON

“I thought we dominated from start to finish. I didn’t think our first half was as good as our second half but Forest defended like they did against Arsenal with plenty of men behind the ball, they did that well but I still think we created enough opportunities and moments to suggest we could have won

It’s still nice to end the season without losing here today but on another day, with the way we played in the second half especially, the second goal would have come.

I look back on my time here with great pleasure and great pride. This spell has probably been the more glamorous but the first one was more important because in those three or four years the club could have gone down at any time.

We had to work very, very hard to make certain that didn’t happen. We put a lot of money back into club coffers that meant we could build the academy. That spell, in my eyes, was just as important as this one. This one is more glamorous because to take 18 points from 10 games and only suffer two defeats is a good performance.

I must say that it is not my work alone. Patrick Vieira started this season off and he won games and got points for the team as well. Between the two of us, we’ve put the club in the position it wants to be in and the future looks very bright.”

STEVE COOPER

“There should be a tinge of disappointment when you’re 1-0 up and not much is in the game. But a good performance, we were away from home and everyone knows how that has been this year. After securing status in Premier League last week, I really liked the boys focus and attitude. They’ve shown that all week and I wasn’t worried about the opposite. It was a decent game and fairly decent way to end.”

MATCH STATISTICS

POSITION IN THE TABLE (at the final whistle)