2GS The Sunday Times May 1, 2022 5Crystal Palace have been known to
allow promising seasons to drift, but
after Wilfried Zaha came off the
bench to snatch a stoppage-time
winner against Southampton at
St Mary’s, it was clear there is no
appetite for a repeat among Patrick
Vieira’s squad.
A combative game looked destined
for a draw when Eberechi Eze drew
Palace level with a brilliant half-
volley midway through the second
half, after Oriel Romeu had
scored to give the home
side an early lead.Neither
side showed the full
force of their creative
potential. That was
until Zaha landed the
decisive blow at the
death, bamboozling Jan
Bednarek with a clever
turn and squeezing the
winner past Fraser Forster.
With 12 goals, this has been
Zaha’s highest-scoring Premier
League season, yet Vieira decided to
rest his top scorer after Palace’s draw
with Leeds on Monday. Despite Eze
notching his first goal since returning
from a seven-month injury absence,
Zaha showed he remains key.
“The game against Leeds was in
our legs, especially Wilf,” Vieira said.
“It was just the [quick] turnaround.
The plan was for him to come on. It’s
important for the players to
understand and believe that we are a
team.
“We have quality players likeSuper-sub Zaha wins
it to vindicate Vieira
Wilfried, like Eze. Everybody has an
important role to play.”
Southampton’s early pressure
warranted a reward and it brought
one after ten minutes. James Ward-
Prowse’s corner was perfectly
pitched, and Romeu rose to glance a
header in off the underside of the bar.
Palace rallied and almost
responded in kind when Conor
Gallagher planted a header wide
before Jean-Philippe Mateta was
denied by the boot of Forster.
In a tight first half, Palace showed
energy and willingness but without
Zaha there was little invention.
The second half started with more
spark from Palace, with Forster called
upon early to claw a low Ayew cross
away from the foot of the lurking
Jeffrey Schlupp.
The equaliser was a rare
moment of quality. Ayew
found space on the right
and rolled it into the
path of the overlapping
Nathaniel Clyne. His
cross found Eze at the
back post, who crashed
it through Forster. Vieira
sent on Zaha on 64
minutes and his side got their
reward. James McArthur found
space in midfield and rolled into the
feet of the substitute, who with his
back to goal on the edge of the box
appeared to have an impossible job.
Maybe for some. In a cool movement,
Zaha turned Bednarek and lashed the
winner in low off the post.Star man Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace)
Southampton (4-4-2) F Forster 7 – K Walker-Peters
7, J Bednarek 5, M Salisu 6, R Perraud 6 —
N Redmond 6, J Ward-Prowse 7, O Romeu 7,
N Tella 7 (M Elyounoussi 80min) – C Adams 7 (S
Armstrong 64), S Long 6 (A Broja 64). Booked
Bednarek.
Crystal Palace (4-3-3) V Guaita 7 – N Clyne 8,
J Andersen 7, M Guehi 7, J Ward 7 – C Gallagher 8,
J McArthur 7, J Schlupp 8 (M Olise 74) – J Ayew 8,
J Mateta 7 (W Zaha 64), E Eze 8 (W Hughes 84).
Booked Ward, McArthur, Mateta.
Referee J GillettRobert O’ConnorSOUTHAMPTON
Romeu 9 1
CRYSTAL PALACE
Eze 60, Zaha 90+2 2Zaha won the game with a clever
turn and shot in stoppage timesaid. “We’ll miss him very much
because he’s the heart and soul of the
group and a leader.”
Without two key defenders, a hard
task for Leeds became even harder on
54 minutes when Rúben Dias rose
above two defenders to meet a Foden
corner, headed down and Aké swept
the ball in, with no challenge forth-
coming from Pascal Struijk.
A caution for Marsch, for dissent,
midway through the second half
breathed yet more energy into his
team and supporters but that was
dulled, for good, after 78 minutes
when City countered and Foden
slipped the ball through for Jesus to
score his sixth goal in eight days.
Ederson kept his clean sheet with
good saves from Dan James and Joe
Gelhardt but the rout was completed
in the second minute of stoppage time
when Fernandinho stroked the ball in
from 20 yards.
Still, as Leeds sank to within five
points and one place of the relegation
zone, at least Marsch could depend
on the unconditional support of his
fans, even singing with them as the
seconds ticked down.
“I said before the game this was the
best team in the world against the
best club and I meant it,” said Marsch,
who joined Leeds in February. “I
came from vacation and stepped into
a relegation battle and knew then this
relegation battle would go down to
the wire. I still believe that.”Goals
(excluding
penalties)
scored
from set pieces by
City, the most in the
PL. It is also the
most conceded
from set pieces in
the PL — by Leeds.LIVERPOOL
P34
PTS 82
May 7Tottenham (h)
May 10Aston Villa (a)
May 17Southampton (a)
May 22Wolves (h)MAN CITY
P34
PTS^83
May 8Newcastle (h)
May 11Wolves (a)
May 15West Ham (a)
May 22Aston Villa (h)hands. We know exactly what we have
to do and we have the same opinion.
We win, we will be champions. We
drop [points], they will be champions
because Liverpool will win every
game.”
If City had felt the pressure heaped
on them by Liverpool’s early victory,
they hardly showed it and took the
lead with a 13th-minute goal that
shifted the game’s dynamic.
Phil Foden delivered the perfect
free kick and Rodri was inexplicably
allowed the space to meet the ball and
head in from six yards; a goal that
sucked the life out of the home crowd,
momentarily at least.
Leeds ended the half strongly and
City, briefly, looked flustered at the
back but, having lost their captain,
Liam Cooper, to injury in the pre-
game warm-up, worse was to follow
for the hosts in first-half stoppage time
when Stuart Dallas injured himself
fouling Jack Grealish.
The full back was stretchered off
with a knee injury that manager Jesse
Marsch described as “not great”,
although the referee, Paul Tierney,
had hardly maintained order and
would have done Dallas a favour had
he booked him for one of many earlier
fouls he had committed on Grealish.
“We don’t think it’s good,” Marsch
RACE FOR THE TITLE
PREMIER LEAGUE
PWD L F AGDPts
1 Man City 34 26 5 3 84 21 63 83
2 Liverpool 34 25 7 2 86 22 64 82
3 Chelsea 33 19 9 5 68 28 40 66
4 Arsenal 33 19 3 11 52 40 1260
5 Tottenham 33 18 4 11 56 38 1858
6 Man Utd 35 1510 10 54 52 255
7 West Ham 34 15 7 12 52 44 852
8 Wolves 34 15 4 15 33 32 149
9 Brighton 35 10 14 11 34 42 -8 44
10 Newcastle 35 1110 14 40 56 -16 43
11 Leicester 32 11 9 12 47 51 -4 42
12 Crystal Palace 34 9 14 11 45 42 341
13 Aston Villa 33 12 4 17 44 46 -2 40
14 Brentford 34 11 7 16 41 49 -8 40
15 Southampton 35 9 13 13 41 58 -17 40
16 Burnley 34 7 13 14 31 46 -15 34
17 Leeds 34 810 16 38 72 -34 34
18 Everton 32 8 5 19 34 55 -21 29
19 Watford 34 6 4 24 32 69 -37 22
20 Norwich (R) 34 5 6 23 22 71 -49 21WHAT A MESS: LEEDS FANS LITTER
ELLAND ROAD PITCH WITH PAPER18
Players clear away paper thrown from the stands. The
debris came from a mural reading “Yorkshire” formed by
Leeds fans, a dig at the visiting Lancashire supporters