Crystal Palace humbled at home as Southampton's superb away form continues
Saturday’s valiant draw at Manchester City suggested that injury-ravaged Crystal Palace might be on the threshold of something more than their customary flirtation with the Championship followed by late-season salvation. Instead, they were outfoxed and at times outplayed by a Southampton who have now won four consecutive Premier League away victories for the first time since 2014-15 and taken 16 points from the last 20.
Lambent strikes from the outstanding Nathan Redmond and Stuart Armstrong won it, but their performance was a delight and once Cedric Soares hobbled off after 22 minutes, in James Ward-Prowse they had a makeshift full-back more capable of thwarting Wilfried Zaha than a succession of full-time defenders.
Three points would have seen Palace musing on a first European place since the far-from-fondly remembered Intertoto campaign of 1998. Those thoughts can be set aside for the time being. In contrast, Southampton find themselves in a comfort zone that seemed beyond them in the dark days of autumn when they took just one point from mid-September to the end of November.
"A lot has changed since then,” acknowledged Southampton manager Ralph Hassenhüttl. “We weren’t brave enough, we’d lost our philosophy. We’ve changed our approach completely: we’ve not played five at the back, but we’ve been tactically demanding. Tonight, we made all the right decisions.”
Southampton had a plan. They relied on Ryan Bertrand and Soares for overlapping width; Redmond for midfield strings-pulling and little Michael Obafemi, starting for the first time since Boxing Day, for goal threat. That plan lasted until a robust Jairo Riedewald challenge put an end to Soares’s evening, but where others might have waned, Southampton waxed. The Portuguese had barely made it to the dressing room when Jack Stephens floated an imperious long ball forwards. Redmond gathered brilliantly, spun around a bemused Martin Kelly, held off James McArthur and handsomely launched first his first goal of 2020 beyond Vicente Guaita.
Palace lacked fluidity. The Cenk Tosun/Zaha alliance is a work in progress, although the Turkey international ought to have scored shortly before Southampton’s first when slumbering Jannik Vestergaard was robbed by Jordan Ayew, who squared for Tosun to hurtle towards goal unchallenged. Alas for Palace, he fired wildly over and they would not come so close again. Without the suspended Luka Milivojevic, subdued Palace lacked midfield authority and without the injured Andros Townsend they lacked pace and mischief.
Yet, there could have been hope. Ward-Prowse dropped back to fill in for Soares and he found himself pitted directly against Zaha. Yet the Ivorian’s mood was brittle and for all that he drew his customary succession of fouls, Zaha would rarely get the better of his gleeful tormentor. Indeed, Zaha’s frustrations boiled over when he appeared to poke Ward-Prowse in the eye as the pair trudged off at half-time. Both managers claimed not to have seen the incident, but Palace’s Roy Hodgson added “I’ve heard VAR checked it and found nothing. That’s good enough for me.”
Whatever Hodgson said during the break was undone three minutes after it. Redmond, whose performance was rightly lauded by Hassenhüttl, threaded the ball through to the unchaperoned Armstrong 25 yards out. The Scot smashed his second goal in two away games past Guaita and that was very much that.
“We looked tired, but that’s no excuse,” sighed Hodgson. “Their second was a massive blow. If we’d kept it 0-1, who knows what could have happened? The ball may have bounced kindly for us.”
Bedraggled as well as behind, Palace were bereft of ideas and for all that Connor Wickham carried a more substantial threat than Tosun, Southampton cruised home.
