Crystal Palace executed a perfect smash ‘n grab as they beat Bournemouth 1-0 after being reduced to 10 men after just 19 minutes.
Substitute Jeffrey Schlupp slammed home from outside the box but the Cherries offered little, despite having a numeric advantage for the majority of the encounter.
As you’d expect from Crystal Palace at home, the Londoners started brightly and pressured Bournemouth for large periods of the opening 10 minutes. With Dominic Solanke and Harry Wilson in the side, the Cherries had two out of their three forwards with previous Liverpool loyalties. Wilson is having a better time of it than Solanke, who is yet to score this season, but neither could unlock the Eagles defence.
In a moment that could have been game changing, Mamadou Sakho flew in on Adam Smith with his studs up at knee high, with no control and the full force of the challenge behind him. Sakho won the ball but not the outcome as he was sent off by referee Anthony Taylor.
With a defender down, Bournemouth assumed control as Harry Wilson and Arnaut Danjuma saw more of the ball and were able to impact play more. Very quickly, Crystal Palace’s night went from bad to worse as Patrick van Annholt limped off with a hamstring injury to be replaced by Schlupp. Roy Hodgson suddenly saw his side go two defenders down in the space of 10 minutes and would have been concerned, although he had the last laugh at full time.
Despite having one more man, the away side struggled to break down Palace and went into the break with scores level.
Same but different
Ryan Fraser hasn’t been in the best form this season but his introduction for Danjuma brought a burst on energy down the left, while Harry Wilson continued to cut in from the right and deliver whipped, in swinging crosses that tested Palace.
Palace’s energy might have been flagging but not as much as the confidence of goalless Dominic Solanke, who was offered a route to goal on the outside of Cheikhou Kouyat but decided to try and thread an impossible pass across the face of goal when taking a shot would have been the better option.
His wastefulness was punished just minutes later when substitute Schlupp, only on the pitch because van Aanholt pulled up injured, picked up the ball just inside the Bournemouth area and was left to his own devices by Cherries defenders, who allowed him to run and run with it before pulling the trigger. Aaron Ramsdale could have done better. The whole defence could have done better and Palace, 10 men Palace, went 1-0 up.
Bournemouth were left pressing for a goal but Palace did what they did all game: sit deep and frustrate the opposition. Jefferson Lerma drew one good save from Vincente Guaita but the Cherries were too slow, too ponderous, and never really threatened the hosts.
The loss left them with four in four and staring down the barrel of a very difficult December with Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal coming up in the next four games.
Crystal Palace ended up in fifth, one point above Tottenham Hotspur and five below Chelsea.
