An inspiring performance has seen AFC Bournemouth come from behind to seal a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, the result condemning Palace to their fifth straight Premier League loss in a row.
A close-range effort from defensive sentinel Scott Dann gave the hosts the lead inside in first half-hour of the game; before the result would be drastically swung back in Bournemouth’s favor.
A couple of shimmies and a strike from Marc Pugh seven minutes after the Crystal Palace opener leveled the score at 1-1. The Bournemouth lead would come in the 57th minute when the free-scoring Benik Afobe popped up to head home a deflected Matt Ritchie shot.
Both sides fought for the result until the final whistle, with fiery tempers and desperate efforts forcing referee, Mike Jones, to show 6 yellow cards over the course of the second half.
The result means that Palace continue their mediocre run of form that has seen them fail to pick up a win so far in the new year. Palace’s poor form has seen them drop from 6th to 11th place, since their last win in December.
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Over in Bournemouth’s camp, they will be happy that they’ve managed to put a few more points between them and the relegation zone – seven points now separate Bournemouth and the 18th placed Newcastle United.
Palace unpolished in the final third
Anyone who watched the game could see that there was an overload of chances the way of Crystal Palace. However, despite multiple looks at the goal, they were only able to convert one chance.
Palace’s tardiness in the final third manifested itself in a couple of ways. Firstly, their shooting sights were out of tune. Of their 14 shots, 5 were blocked and 5 were off target – some were way off target. Secondly, they lacked any real integrity in the crossing department, attempting 29 crosses in total and only managing to find a teammate with 6 of them.
Palace coach Alan Pardew acknowledged his side’s lack of professionalism on the day; beginning his press conference by saying “I thought we lacked a bit of composure at times tonight”.
A game that turned ugly
There were two periods of play in last night’s game and it wasn’t first and second half; basically there was a period over the first 57 minutes were the game was contested, then came a lasting period of late tackles, stray elbows and flaring tempers.
Over the course of the first half, referee Mike Dean showed a single yellow card to Wilfred Zaha for a poor reaction to a linesman’s decision. Zaha was also the focal point of a bit of controversy in the second half and was lucky not to see a second yellow.
Bournemouth Goal #CRYBOU https://t.co/GrBeNlNZaS
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After Afobe’s goal, the game turned scrappy, forcing the referee to show another 6 yellow cards before the final whistle, all of which were irrefutable. At the end of the 90 minutes 26 fouls in total had been counted by Mike Dean.
Emmanuel Adebayor debuting for new club
Hopes were high for Adebayor’s first game in blue and red stripes, with the Togolese striker having scored on his three previous Premier League club debuts at Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham.
Admittedly struggling with an ankle injury and making his debut off the bench, the day didn’t go quite to plan as the 31-year-old appeared frustrated by a lack of service from his teammates, combined with the resilience of the Bournemouth backline.
Despite an uneventful debut Crystal Palace manager, Alan Pardew, holds the club’s new marquee signing in an extremely high regard, telling the media: “If we get him anywhere near his best, this player is of a level above most players who’ve ever played for this football club”.
“For 35 minutes I thought he did ok… He’s coming into a team that isn’t flowing at the moment”, said Pardew.
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