Heavy traffic meant Southampton’s team bus arrived later than expected at Selhurst Park but the visitors were pleased to find the path to Crystal Palace’s goal relatively uncluttered. It was not a complete cruise for Ronald Koeman’s team but they fully deserved a victory that takes them back into the top four. Palace, meanwhile, are headed in the opposite direction, this defeat sending them into the relegation zone and cranking up the pressure on their manager, Neil Warnock.
Sadio Mané was the first to exploit the space that Southampton found in the opposing half, shooting his side into the lead in the 17th minute. The Senegalese beat Scott Dann to a flicked-on ball and laid it back to James Ward-Prowse before spinning and darting forward to collect the midfielder’s deft return pass as the entire Palace defence watched motionless. A duplicitous feint was enough for Mané to elude Julián Speroni and the forward, who has often been guilty of rashness since joining in the summer, kept his composure to slot the ball into the unguarded net from a difficult angle.
Southampton might have been expected to build on that lead seeing as they had been the better side up to the goal, Alderweireld having forced Speroni to push a surprising half-volleyed lob on to the bar in the third minute and Graziano Pellè heading over at the near post in the sixth minute. However, Palace mounted an uprising that had the visitors fretting for much of the remainder of the first period. Scoring has been a recurring problem for Warnock’s side, though, which is why the club are seeking new strikers in January, with Swansea City’s Bafétimbi Gomis top of their wish list.
Mile Jedinak is Palace’s top scorer with five thanks to his prowess from set pieces and he brought a solid save from Fraser Forster in the 26th minute from a free-kick. Southampton were again set up in the 3-5-2 formation that Koeman introduced for the victory over Everton in their last match but Palace found occasional gaps in central defence.
The biggest one emerged in the 32nd minute when Jedinak’s header ran through to Fraizer Campbell, who was not offside despite the flag from the assistant referee, who may have been grateful to see the striker’s shot cannon back off the crossbar. Southampton tightened up after that and Alderweireld produced an excellent block at the edge of the area to thwart Yannick Bolasie in the 40th minute.
At half-time Palace no doubt told themselves they could still overturn their deficit despite only having found the net once in the four matches prior to this one. But their recovery prospects soon took a severe turn for the worse.
In the 48th minute Mané, whose shift to a more central role than usual yielded perhaps his best display for Southampton on the day he was named in his country’s preliminary squad for the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations, twisted his way past Joel Ward and delivered a cross that fell to Bertrand, who whacked a ferocious right-footed shot into the net from the edge of the box.
Five minutes later Ward was found wanting again as Alderweireld soared above him to head a corner from Ward-Prowse into the net to plunder his first goal for Southampton.
“Their goals are all very, very poor,” fumed a frustrated Warnock. “We’ve had a chat about that after. The first was a sloppy goal … and to lose two within seven minutes [of the resumption after half-time] does kill you. I’ve told people in the dressing room what I feel about the goals. It wasn’t Southampton’s fantastic play, it was our poor defending.”
Palace continued to plug away and in the 86th minute they earned a reward that even Koeman admitted they deserved, when Dann headed into the net following a Jedinak free-kick.
Crystal Palace Speroni; Mariappa, Delaney, Dann, Ward; Jedinak, McArthur; Ledley (Zaha, 66), Puncheon, Bolasie (Kelly, 71); Campbell (Gayle, 48)
Subs not used Hennessey, Hangeland, Bannan, Thomas
Southampton Forster; Gardos, Alderweireld, Yoshida; Clyne (McCarthy, 86), Schneiderlin, Ward-Prowse, S Davis (Wanyama, 55), Bertrand; Pellè (Long, 71), Mané.
Subs not used K Davis, Tadic, Reed, Targett
Referee M Dean
