Pierre Sage witnessed his side achieve back-to-back wins to ensure Palace take their place in the last sixteen of the EFL Cup with several new faces taking their Selhurst Park bow.
MATCH INFORMATION
| 8 September – 7.45pm |
| Crystal Palace 3-0 Middlesbrough |
| EFL Cup |
| Selhurst Park |
OFFICIALS
| Referee | Tony Harrington |
| Assistant Referees | Richard West, Hugh Gilroy |
| Fourth Official | Stephen Martin |
PLAYER RATINGS
Crystal Palace
| 44 | Walter BENITEZ | 7.5 |
| 30 | Oscar MINGUEZA | 8.2 |
| 33 | Ben CHILWELL | 7.9 |
| 21 | Honest AHANOR | 8.0 |
| 5 | Axel DISASI | 7.1 |
| 17 | Takehiro TOMIYASU | 7.3 |
| 19 | Will HUGHES © | 7.6 |
| 23 | Quinten TIMBER | 6.7 |
| 24 | Dario OSORIO | 6.7 |
| 10 | Yeremy PINO | 7.3 |
| 22 | Jorgen Strand LARSEN | 9.3 |
| 3 | Tyrick MITCHELL | – |
| 8 | Jefferson LERMA (DISASI 73 mins) | 6.1 |
| 11 | Dwight MCNEIL (PINO 73 mins) | 6.2 |
| 12 | Zavier GOZO (LARSEN 73 mins) | 6.3 |
| 18 | Daichi KAMADA (OSORIO 59 mins) | 7.2 |
| 20 | Adam WHARTON (TIMBER 59 mins) | 6.2 |
| 25 | Anan KHALAILI | – |
| 29 | Evann GUESSAND | – |
| 31 | Remi MATTHEWS | – |
Middlesbrough
| 31 | Sol BRYNN | 5.8 |
| 2 | Callum BRITTAIN | 6.9 |
| 12 | Luke AYLING © | 6.1 |
| 5 | Alfie JONES | 5.9 |
| 3 | Sam BYRAM | 5.9 |
| 10 | Aiden MORRIS | 7.0 |
| 29 | Adilson MALANDA | 5.4 |
| 11 | Amario COZIER-DUBERRY | 6.7 |
| 14 | Myles PEART-HARRIS | 6.1 |
| 9 | Tommy CONWAY | 6.4 |
| 13 | David STRELEC | 6.4 |
| 1 | Radec VITEC | – |
| 4 | Ashley PHILLIPS (MALANDA 77 mins) | 6.1 |
| 6 | Sebastian BERHALTER | – |
| 7 | Will LANKSHEAR (STRELEC 67 mins) | 5.8 |
| 8 | Connor BARRON | – |
| 17 | Max ARFSTEN | – |
| 19 | Leo CASTLEDINE (CONWAY 67 mins) | 6.0 |
| 21 | Rokas PUKSTAS (MORRIS 84 mins) | 6.2 |
| 30 | Neto BORGES (BYRAM 46 mins) | 5.9 |
POST GAME QUOTES
PIERRE SAGE
“We didn’t play well at the beginning of the game, we started to play when we scored the first goal. It was a good collective action. We controlled the ball at this moment. At the end we scored. That’s a good sign.
It’s unconscious, but the players are more relaxed in this kind of game. During the game, they understood they need to do more. It’s a good thing they are aware of that. At half-time, they understood that we are able to play. We don’t have to be afraid to play, because it’s only football and we have the quality to do it.”
KIM HELLBERG
“It’s always tough when you lose a game 3-0. It’s about scoring goals. But if you look at the performance and try and just look at that, I think that was a quite impressive 60 minutes away from home against a Premier League side.”
MATCH STATISTICS
| Star Man | Jorgen Strand LARSEN (9.3) |
| Goals | Jorgen Strand LARSEN (37, 53), Daichi KAMADA (72) |
| Assists | Oscar MINGUEZA (37), Ben CHILWELL (53), Jorgen Strand LARSEN (72) |
| Most shots | Jorgen Strand LARSEN, Amario COZIER-DUBERRY (3) |
| Most tackles | Will HUGHES (7) |
| Most dribbles | Callum BRITTAIN (4) |
| Team rating | 7.21 – 6.15 |
| Total shots | 8 – 16 |
| Shots on target | 5 – 4 |
| Yellow cards | Adilson MALANDA (65), Myles PEART-HARRIS (83) |
| Red cards | None |
| Possession | 40.7% – 59.3% |
| Pass success | 83% – 90% |
| Passes | 415 – 600 |
| Dribbles | 5 – 14 |
| Aerials won | 10 – 5 |
| Tackles | 34 – 8 |
| Fouls | 10 – 11 |
| Corners | 1 – 6 |
| Saves | 4 – 2 |
| Dispossessed | 6 – 16 |
TEB VERDICT
The Eagles are safely through to the Fourth Round of the League Cup and while it was not a vintage performance, they created the chances and were clinical in front of goal.
It was clear in the opening 20 minutes that there were several players feeling their way through the game having never played with each other before with allowed the visitors to try and control the game, but the opener after an impressive run from debutant Honest Ahanor a key contribution before Jorgen Strand Larsen netted came at just the right time.
There is clearly plenty to work on and while Pierre Sage was critical of the first half, he gave credit to the players for persevering and achieving the victory under the lights at Selhurst Park.
Two wins in a week and six goals scored is a job well done, and more of the same at the weekend ahead of a Europa League bow next week will be more good progress for the manager and his group of players.
FOURTH ROUND DRAW
Takes place on Wednesday 16 September and aired live on Sky Sports after the tie between Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion.
UPCOMING FIXTURES
| DATE | TEAM | LOCATION | COMPETITION | KICK OFF TIME |
| 12/09/2026 | Ipswich Town | Home | Premier League | 3pm |
| 17/09/2026 | Lech Poznan | Home | Europa League | 8pm |
| 20/09/2026 | Leeds United | Away | Premier League | 2pm |
