Crazy scenes in Selhurst Park tonight, but only in the dying minutes of the game for the host. A second red in two matches makes it Watford’s second defeat in a row.
Watford have only themselves to blame in this fixture. They had many opportunities in the game to take it away from the home side. Troy Deeney has to take miss of Matchday 17 – even though it was only the first set of fixtures.
Crystal Palace made it difficult after manufacturing a couple of errors that went unpunished early on the game. Yohan Cabaye almost cost his team their second goal after a school boy error. Fortunately, this was one of those they were exonerated from.
Marco Silva must be pretty deflated after losing the lead but the Selhurst team were the more determined side. Goals in the 89th minute, and 91 minutes past regular time sealed the Hornet’s fate.
Crystal Palace and Watford match stats: (Taken from WhoScored.com)
Crystal Palace | Stat | Watford |
| 2 | Goals | 1 |
| 54% | Possession | 46% |
| 77% | Pass Accuracy | 68% |
| 14 | Total Shots | 7 |
| 4 | Shots on Target | 2 |
| 4 | Corners | 6 |
| 13 | Tackles | 19 |
| 3 | Offsides | 0 |
| 14 | Fouls | 18 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 1 |
What a 7 mins of football. You can’t say it ain’t entertaining down South London #CPFC pic.twitter.com/ees99YXUag
— 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐲 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 (@Towno10) December 12, 2017
Watford were leading for 86 minutes of the game, the deciding factor was Tom Cleverley’s not so clever, red card. He has now let his team down for a second time this campaign. The first being the late penalty in their loss to Everton.
Gomez, was another player at fault for one of the goals conceded by the visiting side. With his experience and knowledge of goal keeping – he should be parrying the ball miles away from any rebound inside the small box. Bakary Sako was the player on hand to equalise the first goal and secure an important point for the home side.
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In the dying embers of the game a moment of brilliance once again from a Palace hero, Wilfried Zaha, made sure Roy Hodgson and his London club move out of the drop zone. Hodgson has to be extremely proud of his team’s fighting spirit.
Roy and his men can enjoy a good couple of days in their position as West Brom have two massive fixtures coming up against top-four sides, Liverpool and Man United. It could be the turn of the season for this team after the poor start they managed under ex-manager, Frank De Boer.
Crystal Palace player ratings:
Goalkeeper: Speroni (GK) – 6.4
Defence: Schlupp (LB) – 7.0; Dann (CB) – 7.7; Tomkins (CB) – 7.7; Fosu-Mensah (RB) – (7.0)
Midfield: Townsend (RM) – 6.2; Cabaye (CM) – 5.9; Milivojevic (CM) – 6.7; Loftus-Cheek (LM) – 6.8
Forwards: Zaha (CF) – 7.1; Benteke (CF) – 6.8
Substitutions: McArthur – 7.5; Aanholt 6.3; Sako – 7.3
88' Palace 0-1 Watford
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 12, 2017
FT: Palace 2-1 Watford
What a win for the Eagles! 🦅#CRYWAT pic.twitter.com/d4Pw7cbr3p
Watford player ratings:
Goalkeeper: Gomes (GK) – 6.4
Defence: Janmaat (RWB) – 7.7; Mariappa (RCB) – 6.1; Prödl (CB) – 6.4; Kabasele (LCB) – 6.1; Holebas (LWB) – 6.4
Midfield: Cleverley (CM) – 6.2 ; (CM) – Doucouré – 6.6; Carrillo (CAM) – 6.8; Richarlison (CAM) – 7.6
Forwards: Deeney (CF) – 6.2
Substitutions: Grey – 5.7; Femenia – 5.9; Pereyra – 5.8
Player ratings taken from WhoScored.com