Hatters Hand Eagles Second Defeat In A Row

A disappointing showing ended in defeat for Palace as the hosts grabbed their first Premier League home win in a game that was there for the taking.

MATCH INFORMATION

• 3pm – 25th November 2023
• Luton Town 2-1 Crystal Palace
• Kenilworth Road Stadium, 1 Maple Road, Luton LU4 8AW

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 4 Rob HOLDING, 11 Matheus FRANCA, 17 Nathaniel CLYNE, 26 Chris RICHARDS, 31 Remi MATTHEWS

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 8 Luke BERRY, 23 Tim KRUL, 26 Ryan GILES, 43 Zack NELSON, 47 Jayden LUKER

TEB VERDICT

When you look at the statistics, this was not a particularly bad performance from the Eagles, but it was very different with the naked eye. Injuries to Eze and Doucoure certainly did not help but Michael Olise was the one player that did not deserve to be on the losing team.

The result could have gone either way but it is games like this, and the home game against Everton before the international break, that Palace need to grab by the scruff of the neck. There never seems to be any control in games, particularly in this one, and we always seem to be relying on Eze or Olise to do something. We managed to keep the points column ticking over without them, so perhaps it is a case of having to learn how to play with them again but remain solid.

These two consecutive defeats are not a good look and while such are all part of the learning process during a season, learning from mistakes from game to game needs to be much better. Palace should not have been losing this game, but they did and much needs to be done to add some more points to the board.

It may be too soon to suggest, but was it such a good idea bring back Roy for a season rather than appointing a permanent manager? We will have to see how the run December fixtures go which come at us thick and fast with very little time to rest, recover and learn.

POST GAME QUOTES

ROY HODGSON

“I congratulate them. I thought they worked very hard for their victory. We can feel a bit unlucky as we had some good moments and their goalkeeper had an outstanding day. We thought we could have got that equaliser on at least three or four occasions. We must accept today we weren’t good enough to get the points we thought we could get out of this game.

Cheick Doucoure’s injury is very serious, we don’t know how serious Eberechi Eze’s is. They are two of our more important players so of course it’s devastating news.”

ROB EDWARDS

“I’m incredibly proud of the players today. It’s the second time we’ve scored and someone has put one in the top corner immediately after but to go and get the winning goal… I’m really proud of them.

You can’t guarantee a win in football but the desire, the fight and the quality was all there for us. They put pressure on us but we got a little bit of luck. We are a team that don’t die, don’t quit and keep fighting. We have some weapons. We know it will be tough and a real challenge but we have a good group. It’s nice we got the points today we feel some of our performances deserve.”

JOEL WARD

“Obviously it’s disappointing. In the first half we weren’t up to the level we can be. We gave ourselves an uphill battle. We did enough in the end to come away with at least a point. As players we know when you can eliminate chances and be better. We got ourselves back into the game through a wonder strike from Michael Olise but we didn’t hold on to it. We created chances at the end but it was too late.

In the Premier League you always come up against this sort of run. Only those in the top, top teams don’t go through this often. But we know the quality we possess and we’ll keep working hard to try to make that right.

MATCH STATISTICS

POSITION IN THE TABLE (at the final whistle)

UPCOMING FIXTURES

03/12/23 West Ham United (a) – Premier League 2pm

06/12 Bournemouth (h) – Premier League 7.30pm

09/12 Liverpool (h) – Premier League 12.30pm