MATCH FACTS
- Date – 10 September 2016
- Venue – Riverside Stadium
- Attendance – 30,551
- Referee – Neil Swarbrick
- Bookings – Zaha, Ward
- Goals – Benteke (16), Ayala (38), Zaha (47)
- Star Eagle – Wilfried Zaha (8.1)
TEB VERDICT
The first win of the Premier League season comes as a relief but the result was much more than that. A professional performance by the Eagles secured all three points away from with Christian Benteke getting off the mark for his new club. Zaha proved just how hard to play against he can be giving the home defence a torrid time all afternoon.
PLAYER RATINGS (courtesy of Who Scored)
30 Steve Mandana (7.2) – Fast becoming a fan favourite. Will be disappointed with the goal conceded but made two or three crucial saves to help the Eagles to the win.
2 Joel Ward (7.1) – Fine showing as part of what was a solid back line in the face of expected pressure the longer the game went on.
6 Scott Dann (7.4) – Did just what we have come to expect from the captain. Perhaps should have had a penalty awarded against him late on.
27 Damien Delaney (6.4) – Looked a little pressured at times and was subject of a penalty appeal which would have been harsh had it have been awarded.
34 Martin Kelly (6.9) – Provided the back line with a different dimension and was a real addition as the game went on defending the lead.
18 James McArthur (6.8) – Great showing from the Scotsman covering what seemed to be every blade of grass. Excellent assist to put in Zaha.
16 Joe Ledley (6.8) – Solid in the middle, protecting the back line with minimal fuss.
42 Jason Puncheon (7.6) – Quick feet often creates opportuities and his ball retention was superb but one loss of possession almost cost a goal. Will happen at times but played his part in the win.
11 Wilfried Zaha (8.1) – In this form he is unplayable as the Boro defence found out. Assist and a goal proved he had a good afternoonbut he was so much more than that.
10 Andros Townsend (7.4) – Finding his way in the team and showed a real threat throughout with his ball retention and direct running.
17 Christian Benteke (7.9) – Excellent all round performance, took his goal well and showed what a real addition he will become as the season goes on.
SUBSTITUTES
4 Mathieu Flamini (6.1) -Replaced Ledley on 84 minutes. Made his Eagles debut and brought on to add some fresh legs and steel into the midfield to see out the game.
5 James Tomkins – not used
14 Chung-yong Lee (6.6) -Replaced Townsend on 77 minutes. Not a long of time to make an impact when possession was becoming less and less as the game wound down.
13 Wayne Hennessey – not used
15 Jonathan Benteke (6.4) -Replaced Benteke on 84 minutes. Found it difficult to make an impact in the short time he was on the pitch particularly the position of the game at the time.
19 Zeki Fryers – not used
35 Luke Dreher – not used
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID
“First twenty minutes were important for us that we built on the Bournemouth performance and we were terrific in that period, and deserved the lead. You cannot control a whole Premier League game and we had to really hold on towards the end. If we do that for thirty-eight games we will be fine. We have some big players back at the ranch and hopefully we can get them fit. I thought Wilf was terrific and he deserved the assist and goal. He showed qualities offensively and defensively.” – ALAN PARDEW courtesy of BBC Sport.
“We have lost when we were in a good position. When you lose a game through mistakes it is difficult, but we have to think about the future and learn. We have to keep going. All of us have learned we cannot drop our intensity in the Premier League, we have to play always in the same style. We had a lot of chances in the second half and if we had played the first half the same way we would have won the game.” AITOR KARANKA courtesy of BBC Sport.
MATCH STATISTICS
The Who Scored man of the match was Wilfried Zaha (8.1) while Andros Townsend (3) had the most shots. Antonio Barragan made the most tackles (8) as well as the most dribbles (4).
- Team rating: 6.78 – 7.04
- Total shots: 12 – 11
- Shots on target: 4 – 4
- Possession: 57.8% – 42.2%
- Pass success: 85% – 78%
- Dribbles: 12 – 9
- Aerials won: 14 – 26
- Tackles: 21 – 21
- Corners: 6 – 6
- Dispossessed: 16 – 15
POSITION IN THE TABLE
The three points move Palace up to eleventh in the Premier League table with four points from four games played, level with five other teams at this early stage in the season. There are two games left to play from this round of fixtures.
