Here is what we learned from Crystal Palace's 1-0 win over Leicester.
Remember the day
Saturday saw Crystal Palace win a game without the talismanic Wilfried Zaha.
Serving his one-game suspension, Zaha omission would’ve been greeted with groans as the Eagles simply do not win without the winger. Until now!
September 2016 was the last time Palace won without their star man.
Yes Palace won but they only had one shot on target, not a stat the Palace players will be proud of.
READ: Hodgson hails lady-luck in Leicester win
Super skipper
He’s been in bad form this season so to see Luka Milivojevic line up a strike from 20-odd yards was strange. To see the ball hit the back of the net is even more surprising!
Yes we know he’s good from the spot, but this strike was a thing of beauty. Curling away from the keeper to the far post, it was a strike worthy of winning any game of football.
Fans will be hoping this could be the turning point for the captain and the club as they look to climb the table.
Ayew is not the answer
Jordan Ayew was thrust in to the side in Zaha’s absence. His role was to lead the line alongside Andros Townsend. Sadly for Ayew he didn’t have a good game and it showed just how invaluable Christian Benteke is, even when out of form.
His first touch looked shaky and his confident was shot after a string of miss-placed passes. He managed one poor effort at target before being taken off on the hour.
This was his chance to stake a claim for a regular berth in the side. A chance he did not take.
READ: Player ratings from Palace's 1-0 win over Leicester
Defensive duties
Palace created very little going forward and relied heavily on their defence to ground out the win. Commanding performances from both Martin Kelly and Mamadou Sakho set uyp the foundation for this result and rightly their manager was quick to applaud his back-line post-match. With Scott Dann back from injury, and James Tomkins available for next week’s tie with Manchester City, choosing his best centre-back pairing is a nice problem for Hodgson to have.
Foxes look lost
Leicester looked like a side going through the motions first half. After the break Claude Puel’s men showed some determination and went closest to scoring but on the whole this is a shadow of the side that the nation fell in love with three years ago.
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