It was a tale of two halves as Crystal Palace secured their place in the Premier League next season with a 2-1 win over Stoke City at Selhurst Park.
The Potters took the lead after some good play from Marko Arnautovic to find Charlie Adam, who broke away from Pape Souare to the far post and placed the ball past Wayne Hennessey.
It was not until the second-half that the home side were able to get into the game, when Dwight Gayle brought them level just after the restart. Yannick Bolasie made a determined run and after he was tackled in the box, Gayle pounced on the loose ball and knocked it into the goal.
The Englishman’s second goal secured the win for Palace in the 68th minute. After being brought down by Ryan Shawcross, he put the ensuing free-kick into the back of the net, despite slipping while taking the shot.
The Premier League season comes to an end for the Eagles with an away trip to Southampton next, while Stoke return home to face West Ham.
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Crystal Palace
Wayne Hennessey – 5: Stopped a great chance from Xherdan Shaqiri early in the game, however, got very lucky late on when Arnautovic got around the defence but blasted over the goal.
Pape Souare – 5: Was caught out in the lead up to the Adam goal, not tracking back properly.
Damien Delaney – 6: A solid game in defence, putting in some good blocks and working hard to close down any opportunities that fell to Johnathan Walters and Peter Crouch.
Scott Dann – 6: Like his defensive partner he did well against the dangerous Crouch and Arnautovic when ther received the ball in a dangerous position.
Joel Ward – 5: Made a mistake that could have proved costly early, but he worked back hard to rectify this over the contest.
Jason Puncheon – 5: Had a couple of decent chances that he was unable to properly control.
Yohan Cabaye – 6: One of his better games in recent times, his passing really causing the Stoke defence issues before he was replaced at halftime.
James McArthur – 6: Played he defensive role perfectly and in fact kept the likes of Giannelli Imbula and Glen Whelan very quiet.
Yannick Bolasie – 7: An instrumental performance from the Congolese winger as he was centre to much of the good attacking play from Palace and provided the assist for the first Gayle goal.
Connor Wickham – 5: Was fairly quiet allowing Gayle to be the centre for most of the attack in the second-half.
Dwight Gayle – 9: A clear man of the match, scoring two important goals that secure the win and Crystal Palace’s position in the Premier League next year.
7 – Dwight Gayle has scored more goals than any other Crystal Palace player in all competitions this season (7). Eagle.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 7, 2016
Substitutes
Joe Ledley – N/A: The rare occurrence where a substitute gets replaced, after he went down with a calf issue only eight minutes after coming on.
Jordon Mutch – 5: Had some decent chances with a couple of turn and shoot opportunities that went just wide.
Bakary Sako – N/A: Was brought on so that Gayle could be cheered of by the crowd with two minutes left in the match.
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