We have finally secured our Premier League status after a improved second half display against a fluid Stoke City side.
In the Premier League it has not been a season that we were hoping for, at Christmas we were joint fourth and many were tipping us for a potential European spot.
In all honesty, the squad we have at the moment is not ready for a tilt on a European adventure but it could do with the right investment over the summer.
With just one league game remaining at Southampton and then the big one at Wembley the following Saturday, we can close the season with the hope that we will secure our first major trophy.
There is no getting away from the fact that the game against Manchester United is monumental. Reaching the FA Cup final is a lifetime opportunity very few players get to achieve and given the nature of the way the FA Cup has panned out, we will see a re-run of the 1990 cup final in which we lost the replay.
Before I get carried away talking about the possibility of Palace winning the cup, I want to take a look back at last week’s game against the Potters.
It certainly was not a vintage Palace performance in the first half, we were too predictable, and quite frankly, boring in our attacking play. Whatever was said at the interval definitely worked a treat and Dwight Gayle and company pulled out a vitally important win for the Selhurst faithful.
The one thing we did not want to see was any injuries so close to the final but unfortunately for Joe Ledley he suffered a leg fracture and will miss the final, and possibly even Wales’s Euro 2016 campaign. It is gutting for the Welshman after what was a fairly innocuous looking tussle with Charlie Adam and it is such a shame that Ledley came out worse. You cannot say he is not a tough Welshman because he even walked off the pitch with the leg fracture!
Moving on, and I cannot write this article without mentioning Gayle. The man just scores goals and goals that are vitally important too. I can recall a number of important goals our diminutive striker has scored – Burnley away last season, Aston Villa away the year before, and who cannot forget that goal he scored to effectively end Liverpool’s hopes of winning the league?
The former Peterborough United and Concord Rangers striker is a natural born goalscorer!
I have lost count how many times I have mentioned it on TEB and I will continue to do so because I believe Gayle has a future at the club, regardless of what other supporters feel.
Okay, this year injuries at certain points have stopped him from breaking into the team, but it seems every time he does, he scores. If we can keep a fit Gayle and a fit Connor Wickham we may well witness a partnership similar to that of Mark Bright and Ian Wright.
Alan Pardew has called him the best finisher at the club, and I think he is right. On the other hand, to prove that he is just that, Pardew has to give him more game time but so far this season the former Newcastle United manager has failed to do so.
I along with many other Palace fans would love to see Gayle score the winner at Wembley, and that could well happen but whether he will start is something we will have to wait in anticipation to see who Pardew decides to go with.
There was an excellent debate on Palace by the team at the Back Of The Net Football Show on Susy Radio Monday Night including our editor, so make sure you give it a listen. The show is on every Monday from 7pm to 9pm and you can listen live on 103.4FM if you are in the area, online or by using the TuneIn app.
