And that’s your lot. Commiserations to Stoke City, whose ten-year stay in the Premier League ended this afternoon. The last time they slipped out of the top flight, in the mid Eighties, it took them 23 years to get back. Here’s wishing them a speedier recovery this time round. Meanwhile congratulations to Crystal Palace, who have stayed up with ease, no mean feat after their appalling start to the season. That seven-game losing streak seems an awfully long time ago now!
And now a downbeat Paul Lambert. “It’s a tough afternoon, and I feel for everybody connected with the club. The season starts in July, August. You find yourself sleepwalking into situations, and we just never had enough. We just fell short. I came here in January. We tried to identify and rectify what was going wrong, and I can’t fault anyone’s effort, but we didn’t have enough up front and that eventually caught up with us. This is a brilliant football club. It will be difficult, but we have to man up. It is tough at the minute, but the club is in a good position to rebuild. We’ll sit down and regroup, it’s in really good hands, with a marvellous support base. It’s an opportunity to rebuild.”
Roy Hodgson reflects on Palace’s survival and Stoke’s demise. “The players deserve all the credit. They came out of the blocks, and asked a lot of questions of our back four. They stopped us playing football. I’m proud in the second half we showed more courage and got the ball down better. Perhaps their taking the lead meant they had something to hold onto and so they dropped deeper. But I’m proud of my team’s performance, not just today but over the whole of the season. I feel a lot of sympathy and empathy for Stoke, it’s a very tough day, so any joy I feel is measured by looking at the faces of those players who gave everything they could give. But they came across a team who were not prepared to lie down. It’s nice to get over 40 points, and we’ll try to get a place in the top ten, but if they can’t do it they won’t get any criticisms from me!”
Our man Nick Miller was at the Bet 365 Stadium this afternoon. Here’s his report on the shattering of dreams in the Potteries.
There’s nice.
Normally I like to celebrate when I score but I’d like to apologise to Stoke City and their fans, I wish my goal didn’t relegate you, but you’ll be back soon! Great club with great fans 👊🏽
— Patrick van Aanholt (@pvanaanholt) May 5, 2018
Ryan Shawcross reflects. “It didn’t happen over one game. We’ve not been good enough all season. The fans were brilliant, even at the end. They were still cheering us on, which shows their dedication. We’ve had a right go, but for whatever reason we’ve not got the goals we needed and that’s cost us. The last goal was my fault, and I hold my hands up. But we will be back. The club have got a lot of big decisions to make. If we keep our players - and we’ve got a good manager - we’ll be back and hopefully will come back strong.”
So to confirm, Stoke are the first team to be relegated from the Premier League this season. Bottom club West Brom can still save themselves, though they’ll need to start by beating high-flying Tottenham in the 3pm kick-offs.
Roy Hodgson, who has experienced some tough times of his own over the years, makes sure not to rub it in when he shakes hands with Paul Lambert. A grim, apologetic face as he offers commiserations to his opposite number. It’s a small thing, but a classy touch, especially as Palace have completed their own escape today. Jack Butland is in floods of tears as he claps the Stoke support, who never stopped believing ... well, for 86 minutes, anyway. The bittersweet love is returned by a large crowd who have stayed behind to thank their team, despite it all. Xherdan Shaqiri, who had given Stoke hope with his first-half free kick, simply looks stunned.
FULL TIME, AND STOKE ARE RELEGATED: Stoke City 1-2 Crystal Palace
That’s it, all over for Stoke City. They’re relegated after a ten-year stay in the Premier League. Crystal Palace’s win ensures the survival of the south Londonders.
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90 min +4: Shaqiri makes a little space down the left for a cross. Shawcross, desperate to make amends, sends a header softly over the bar.
90 min +3: Benteke twists and turns in the Stoke box, but can’t shoot or win a penalty.
90 min +2: Palace play the corner backwards, then hold onto the ball awhile. Their fans give it the olé!s, which is really adding insult to injury.
90 min +1: Benteke barrels down the left and earns a corner off Bauer.
90 min: Five extra minutes. Five minutes to save Stoke City’s Premier League life.
89 min: Shaqiri is booked for an appalling rake down the back of Loftus-Cheek’s leg. He should be sent packing. Loftus-Cheek is in a lot of pain.
88 min: That goal will also confirm Palace’s continued membership of the Premier League. Townsend is repalced by Schlupp. The Stoke fans are beginning to make their way home, the jig nearly up.
GOAL! Stoke City 1-2 Crystal Palace (Van Aanholt 86)
Benteke plays the ball wide right for Zaha, who looks to deliver it back into the centre for Van Aanholt. Shawcross tries to intercept ... and manages only to take the pace off the ball and tee it up for Van Aanholt. The Palace defender takes a stride and slams the ball under Butland and into the net. Is it the goal that relegates Stoke City after their ten-year stay in the Premier League?
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85 min: Pieters is booked for an earlier tug on Zaha. Then Sobhi twists, turns and earns Stoke’s first corner down the left. But the set piece is wasted. And then ...
84 min: Townsend and Zaha exchange crisp passes down the right, before releasing Loftus-Cheek, who tries the spectacular from a tight angle. Nope! Zaha was free in the middle, too, waiting for a tap-in.
83 min: Townsend dribbles with purpose down the left and earns Palace’s sixth corner of the afternoon off Allen. Nothing much comes of the set piece. Ndiaye then clatters into Loftus-Cheek. You usually see yellows for that leg-hanging clumsiness: he’s very lucky to still be on the park.
81 min: Ndiaye is booked for a late tackle on Townsend.
80 min: Benteke, dropping deep down the left, tries to return the favour. He’s close to finding Zaha with a fine diagonal pass. But there’s a little too much power in the pass, and it flies through to Butland.
79 min: Zaha finds Benteke inside the box from the right. Benteke can’t control, but the ball nearly squirms into the bottom right anyway. Stoke are living very dangerously now.
77 min: Campbell comes on for Johnson. An attacking substitution for Stoke, but within seconds they’re nearly losing, as Townsend breaks down the left and pulls the ball back for Zaha, who must surely bury it from the penalty spot. But he leans back and balloons a wild one deep into the stand. Stoke could see ten years of Premier League life flash before their eyes then.
76 min: Sakho plays an awful ball out of defence, allowing Ndiaye to intercept and attempt to slip Shaqiri free. Shaqiri is dozily flagged offside.
75 min: Townsend crosses low from the left. Benteke gets ahead of Pieters, but instead of flinging himself for the cross, opts to flop to the floor instead, looking for the penalty. The referee isn’t having it.
74 min: A free kick for Stoke out on the left. The home heroes load the box. Shaqiri hoicks long. Allen, of all people, rises highest to win a header at the far post. But he can only send it harmlessly over the bar.
72 min: Stoke’s nerves are beginning to betray them. From the Palace corner, the ball is worked to Zaha, 25 yards out down the right. Pieters comes through him. Free kick. Milivojevic curls deep. Tomkins should plant his head on the ball, on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, but Diouf does just enough to put him off.
70 min: Stoke won’t be relegated if this match ends in a draw ... but they’ll be in all sorts of trouble, with Championship football next season more than likely. Accordingly, they press forwards. Shaqiri tries to find Zouma in the Palace box with a ball from the right. Nothing doing. Palace break, and they’re two on two! Fortunately for Stoke, Townsend overplays a bit, and nobody gets a shot away. But they do earn a corner on the right.
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GOAL! Stoke City 1-1 Crystal Palace (McArthur 68)
Stoke ship yet another lead! Zaha romps through the middle of the park. He slips the ball to his left for Loftus-Cheek, who shuttles it on further. McArthur, on the overlap, slides the ball across Butland and into the bottom right! It had been coming.
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67 min: Sobhi comes on for Crouch.
65 min: Milivojevic tries to get his head onto the free kick, but nothing significant occurs. Pieters clatters Zaha. Nerves are jangling now. This is all very edgy.
63 min: Bauer is booked for a fairly basic challenge on Zaha. Before the free kick can be taken, Benteke comes on for Cabaye, and there’s some playground shoving on the edge of the Stoke area. Johnson, 33, and Tomkins, 29, are booked.
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61 min: Palace push Stoke back. But suddenly Stoke break out. Allen rolls a fine pass down the right to release Shaqiri into acres of space. The ball’s rolled inside for Diouf, who should power clear but can’t sort his feet out. Then Crouch tries to take up possession on the edge of the area, but he goes over instead of getting a shot away. What a chance to put some daylight between themselves and Palace!
60 min: Milivojevic chips the free kick over the Stoke back line, but Tomkins, coming in from the left, can’t stop the ball from going out for a goal kick.
59 min: Palace are well on top now. They’ve enjoyed 76% possession during the last ten minutes. Shawcross comes through the back of Townsend, 30 yards from the Stoke goal. Free kick, and a chance for Palace to load the box.
57 min: Zaha turns crisply down the left and slips a pass down the wing for Townsend. Townsend flashes the ball across the face of goal, where Zaha and Loftus-Cheek look to poke home, but the winger had gone early and is rightly flagged for offside. A totally unnecessary mistake, and Palace are currently burning chances to get back into this match.
56 min: ... a short-corner routine goes badly wrong. Van Aanholt tries to rescue the situation with a shot from distance, but his effort flies miles over the bar.
55 min: Milivojevic has a dig from 25 yards. The ball’s deflected wide left for a corner. From which ...
54 min: Shaqiri makes to chip the ball past Milivojevic, who raises an arm to block it. The Palace midfielder is booked for deliberate handball.
53 min: Allen tries to release Shaqiri down the right, but there’s too much juice on the ball.
51 min: We go again. Sakho and Crouch tussle under a high ball. Crouch is penalised for being overly aggressive. He’s got Sakho’s face in his hand at one point, as he shoves him backwards to the ground. He’s very lucky not to see yellow. Some referees, on a hair-trigger, might even have flashed red. An unnecessary risk, given the predicament his team is in.
50 min: So much for that lively start: Zouma spends a couple of minutes getting treatment.
48 min: Palace string together some pretty triangles in the middle of the park. Suddenly Cabaye slips one down the left channel for Loftus-Cheek, whose shot from the edge of the area is stopped by a sliding Pieters. The ball ricochets off Loftus-Cheek and out for a goal kick; it hasn’t been his day so far. But Palace nearly sliced Stoke open there. A lively start to the half.
47 min: Shawcross lifts the ball long. Crouch, on the edge of the D, heads on to Diouf, who has his back to goal but a chance to flick Shaqiri free to his right. The flick doesn’t quite come off, but that was a sweet move, proof that long-ball football can be beautiful too. It would have been a fine goal.
We’re off again! Stoke get the party restarted. No half-time changes.
Half-time reading: It’s the Women’s FA Cup Final later today. We’ll be covering it here, so get up to speed with Louise Taylor’s preview of the big Wembley showdown between Chelsea and cup specialists Arsenal. See you at 5.30pm for that one!
HALF TIME: Stoke City 1-0 Crystal Palace
Stoke haven’t been particularly coherent. But Xherdan Shaqiri, with a little help from Ruben Loftus-Cheek, has given them a precious half-time lead. As things stand, their survival bid remains a live prospect!
45 min +4: Ndiaye’s back up.
45 min +2: Zaha dribbles down the left, momentarily bothering Stoke. Then Kelly tries to find someone in the middle from a position out right. Ndiaye sticks out a leg to block and takes a sore whack. He’s down getting treatment.
45 min +1: That goal has given Stoke a huge lift, as you’d expect. Pieters launches into the Palace box. Shawcross is causing the visitors concern. Hennessey just about deals with the situation.
45 min: Loftus-Cheek played a big part in Palace’s downfall there. He tries to make amends immediately, chesting down a Townsend cross from the right. But he can’t sort his feet out, ten yards from goal, and Stoke clear. There will be four added minutes of this intriguing half.
44 min: Stoke haven’t been very good. But that was a delicious free kick. And the stadium explodes into life! Shaqiri and Lambert cavort on the touchline accordingly.
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GOAL! Stoke City 1-0 Crystal Palace (Shaqiri 43)
Shaqiri curls the free kick into the top right! The ball took a little deflection off the eyebrows of Loftus-Cheek, sending it right into the corner. Hennessey would have had little chance of saving Shaqiri’s effort anyway, but that deflection definitely took it out of his reach!
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42 min: Loftus-Cheek tries to break upfield from deep. Allen robs him and feeds Shaqiri, who is upended by Loftus-Cheek. A free kick, just to the right of the Palace D. One for Shaqiri, who springs up in excitable fashion with a view to taking the set piece.
40 min: Ward, injured earlier, can’t continue. Kelly comes on as he limps off.
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38 min: Ward dallies over a throw. Oh, it’s not Palace’s! He takes his own sweet time to give the ball back to Bauer, who has steam coming out of his ears. Palace are pressing Stoke’s buttons this afternoon. The crowd respond accordingly. Magnificent pantomime.
36 min: After Zaha is bollocked by the referee for moaning about the minor incident with Johnson, Palace work their corner in from the left. Cabaye tries to fire a spectacular one into the top right from the left of the D. The effort just about stays inside the stadium.
35 min: Zaha, fuelled by righteous ire, swans past Shawcross in the middle of the park. He slides a pass down the inside-left channel for Townsend, who very nearly breaks clear on goal, but makes do with winning a corner off Zouma.
34 min: Zaha threatens to burst down the inside-left channel, but Johnson eases him off the ball. Zaha sits on the turf, glowering. Johnson wanders off.
32 min: Palace work the ball to the right wing. A cross. Cabaye loops a header goalwards from the edge of the box, but it flies harmlessly over and Butland has it covered anyway.
31 min: ... Van Aanholt volleys from the edge of the area. Johnson closes him down. His block leads to another corner on the left.
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30 min: Stoke press Palace back a little. Johnson nearly finds Diouf in the middle from the right. Pieters crosses from the left, but Crouch heads across goal instead of going for it. Palace then break up the other end and earn a corner. From which ...
29 min: Pieters is back up. But this stuttering action isn’t helping Stoke, who need to keep press, press, pressing in search of that precious win. Johnson tries to get things going again with a run down the right, but his cross towards Crouch is easily cleared.
27 min: This is stop-start. Now Pieters is down, having taken a whack on the kneecap from McArthur, who was attempting to boot the ball at the time. Ooyah, oof. A sore one.
26 min: Ward’s back on. Loud boos as he takes possession of the ball, then offloads it. But he’s moving a bit gingerly at the moment.
25 min: Ward is down getting some treatment. The crowd think he’s trying it on, of course they do, but close-ups suggest the full-back is struggling a bit. He limps off with the physio, and for now Palace are down to ten men.
24 min: That move has given Stoke succour. Shaqiri spreads the play to the left. Bauer hoicks a cross into the mixer. Crouch rises with Hennessey, and fouls the keeper, but for the first time in the match, Palace are looking a little unsettled.
22 min: Stoke finally put something together, and it’s the best chance of the game. Shaqiri opens his legs and romps down the right. He curls into the centre, finding Diouf six yards out. Diouf tries to guide a downward header into the bottom left, and though it bounces wide it’s not too far away. Some promise for the desperate hosts.
20 min: It continues to be scrappy. Stoke can’t get anything going at all. Pieters rakes a long pass forward out for a goal kick. That was nowhere near a team-mate. The stadium has fallen a little quiet.
17 min: On the touchline, Lambert loses his rag over a throw-in near the halfway line. Passions are running high. Stoke are a collective study in agitation right now.
15 min: Palace start stroking it about patiently. They’re slowly beginning to dictate terms, some control amid the mayhem. The ball’s worked to Zaha on the right. Zaha fires across goal and left of the target. Not far away.
13 min: Now Cabaye stays down after being clipped by Crouch. The big man offers a hand of friendship, but an irritated Cabaye refuses it. The Stoke faithful give him the bird. A pattern developing here.
12 min: Palace are taking their time over throw-ins, trying to take the sting out of Stoke’s early play. A ploy straight out of the Mourinho-at-Anfield ‘14 playbook. Clever Roy. The crowd don’t like it much.
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10 min: Townsend zips down the right and cuts into the centre. He shoots low for the goal, from the edge of the Stoke box, but his effort is blocked bravely by Pieters. Both teams are attacking with purpose, though Palace’s moves look a little more measured, smoother, less hysterical.
9 min: Bauer powers down the left and reaches the byline. He looks for Crouch in the middle, but his low cross is snaffled by Hennessey.
8 min: Bauer races down the right, after a long ball. For a second, it looks like he’ll reach it, and move menacingly towards goal, but he can’t quite reach. Then Palace go straight up the other end, Loftus-Cheek drifting in from the left and curling a magnificent effort inches wide of the top-right corner. That would have been a picture-book goal ... but not quite.
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6 min: Allen bursts down the Stoke left. He’s dispossessed. Zaha races along the Palace right, to little effect. We’re up to 110mph.
4 min: Butland blooters long. Crouch rises above Tomkins, and concedes a free kick. This is all very intense. Shapeless and unpredictable, with passes at a premium. It’s like a Champions League semi-final.
2 min: And now Crouch is caught offside, chasing a Diouf flick-on. This is being played at 100mph at the moment. What a hectic, end-to-end start. What an atmosphere!
And we’re off! Palace get the ball rolling. Or, more accurately, bouncing around hysterically in the middle of the park. But then some order, as Townsend breaks down the left and feeds Loftus-Cheek on his inside. Loftus-Cheek tries to feed the ball forward down the channel for Zaha, but the pass is too strong. Goal kick.
The teams are out! Stoke City are in their famous red-and-white stripes, while Palace play in their black change strip. It’s a sunny day in the Potteries; the atmosphere at the Bet 365 Stadium is blistering. As it almost always is, rain or shine, mid-table irrelevance or relegation battle. Two clubs with supporters who really know how to whip up a beautiful noise. This is magnificent. A quick blast of Delilah and then we’ll be off!
Some pre-match praise for the Hodge, courtesy of Felix Wood. “Palace under Hodgson have become good to watch and have pulled themselves out of free-fall, with an injury list that others would have hidden behind. I hope that posterity remembers Hodgson not as the man who had Kane on corner duty but as someone who consistently made small clubs and unfashionable players punch above their weight. And also for any young players coming through, Zaha and Loftus-Cheek’s experience this season will attest to the fact that a team that will play you and a manager that will allow you to achieve is better than being squashed at one of the mega-clubs.”
Paul Lambert talks! “We have to try and win, throw everything at it. We have 90 minutes to do it, so we can’t go at it from the off, but the intent is there. We can’t attack for 90 minutes, it’s impossible. But if we win today, we’re right back in it. We’ve lacked in forward areas, that’s evident, we don’t have the personnel. But hopefully someone will create something and we’ll get a goal. Palace won’t take their foot off the gas, we have to be ready for that, and be on the front foot. The crowd will be right for us, and drive us on. We just need a break, and play well to win.”
Roy Hodgson speaks to Sky. “I hope we have the same mindset we’ve had all season. I’m really hoping it won’t change at all. We want to play as well as we possibly can to the end of the season, not least because of the integrity of the league, and it’s a mistake when teams switch off. We’re not going to switch off. If we lose, it’s because Stoke will have played better than us. When you play against a team that is going to be as motivated and fired up as they’re going to be, it’s always going to be a problem for you. What’s more, they have very good players. We have prepared the players, but now it’s all about the actors on the field. We’re aware it’s last-chance saloon time for Stoke.”
If It Ain’t Broke I: Stoke City earned a commendable point at Liverpool this time last weekend, so the one and only change to their starting XI is enforced. The injured Bruno Martins Indi is replaced by Glen Johnson.
If It Ain’t Broke II: Crystal Palace won 5-0 last weekend. They’ve named the same team.
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The teams
Stoke City: Butland, Johnson, Shawcross, Zouma, Pieters, Shaqiri, Allen, Ndiaye, Bauer, Diouf, Crouch.
Subs: Ireland, Adam, Cameron, Fletcher, Haugaard, Sobhi, Campbell.
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Tomkins, Sakho, Van Aanholt, McArthur, Milivojevic, Cabaye, Loftus-Cheek, Townsend, Zaha.
Subs: Sorloth, Lee, Schlupp, Cavalieri, Benteke, Wan Bissaka, Kelly.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
Preamble
If Stoke City win their last two games of the season, there’s a reasonable chance of their staying up. It’s not beyond the realms: they just need two from Southampton, Swansea, Huddersfield and West Ham to end the season in miserable fashion, while winning their own matches today against Crystal Palace and next weekend at Swansea.
On the face of it, far from an impossible dream. The only small problem: they’ve only won one of their last 18 games, and only scored four times in their last eight. Gritty points at Anfield are all good and well, but now they’ve got to start winning.
Can they complete stage one of this great escape against Palace? Well, Roy Hodgson’s side aren’t yet mathematically safe ... but come on. So there’s a slight chance they might not be matching Paul Lambert’s men for desperate intensity this afternoon. And Stoke did beat Palace the last time these teams met in the Potteries. But to balance all that out: Palace are four unbeaten, have just completed a 5-0 thrashing of 2015/16 champions Leicester, and have won six of the last seven against Stoke.
Whatever: Stoke need to win their first game since January 20. If they don’t, they’re as good as down; a point today might not be enough to retain hope, depending on other results. A loss and they’re gone. It’s the relegation precipice. It’s the last-chance saloon. It’s the final roll of the dice. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm BST.
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