The majority in this stadium broke away from celebrating their team’s flurry of late goals to serenade Roy Hodgson as full-time approached, the Crystal Palace manager responding with a wave from his dugout. The south London club may not be arithmetically assured of survival but this was surely the riotous victory which extended their stay in the Premier League into a sixth campaign. He deserved his moment.
To have in effect guaranteed their status before the end of April is remarkable. Rewind to September and the side had languished pointless and goalless at the foot of the table after seven games, Frank de Boer’s tenure having already been curtailed with the dust still to settle on the summer transfer window. Hodgson had come in as a firefighter. He has since steered the side to 38 points with two games to go without a goalscoring centre-forward, a crippling injury list and with no significant additions in January.
The smile of satisfaction which creased across the manager’s face on the final whistle said it all, relief giving way to unbridled delight as he clapped hands with his assistant, Ray Lewington, and the locals celebrated their most emphatic win in Premier League history. Hodgson has done what he does best: diligent coaching allied with logical team selection, with players revelling in the positions they know best. Common sense and industry have led the way, with Wilfried Zaha the free spirit in amid the industry.
He is the player who can set this collective apart. Leicester were unable to deal with the Ivorian’s trickery and slippery running, particularly once they had been reduced to 10 men after Marc Albrighton had brought down the forward. It had been his first-time finish beyond Ben Hamer which set the tone, Palace having shifted the ball wonderfully in-field, from Ruben Loftus-Cheek to Yohan Cabaye to James McArthur’s back-heel, while City dithered.
Zaha set up McArthur for a second, crisply dispatched into the far corner, before the interval. For all the mind-boggling exploits of Mohamed Salah or Kevin De Bruyne, surely no single player exerts as much positive influence on a team as Zaha does for Palace. “That was maybe one of his very best [performances] during my time at the club,” said Hodgson. “He balanced running with the ball, creating chances and tracking back. His all-round game was great. If he can continue like that there is no barrier for how high he can reach.”
This was actually a triumph for the collective. Loftus-Cheek was excellent in front of the watching Gareth Southgate, capping his own display by collecting Mamadou Sakho’s pass to round Hamer and tap into a gaping net. Cabaye and McArthur were excellent, while Andros Townsend was irrepressible. James Tomkins saw a header scrambled from the goalline by Kelechi Iheanacho.
Leicester were slack in midfield throughout, blunted further by a hamstring injury to Wilfred Ndidi and Albrighton’s dismissal. They have won only twice in 11 league games and Claude Puel is under pressure. “It’s not my concern at this moment,” said the Frenchman. “My first feeling is to stay near my players and get a good response in the next game.” He had mumbled his assessment of the game with three mentions of “catastrophe”, which neatly summed it up.
Patrick van Aanholt belted in a fourth after Hamer had blocked from Jeffrey Schlupp, though Palace saved their most celebratory goal until last. Christian Benteke had not scored in this arena since last May. Yet Harry Maguire tripped the Belgian in stoppage time and Luka Milivojevic, having taken counsel from the bench, insisted the striker took the spot-kick.
It was a role reversal from the late farce against Bournemouth in December, when Benteke had ripped the ball from the regular penalty taker but failed to convert. Here he slipped as he connected but the ball was struck truly enough. Once he had emerged from the joyous clutter of team-mates, Palace had risen to 11th. “Miracles do happen but basically we are safe,” added Hodgson. The din at the final whistle sounded survival.
