Southampton put together a dominating performance against Crystal Palace with a 4-1 win at home to finish the 2015-16 season on a high.
It was not until late in the first-half that the hosts found their breakthrough. Sadio Mane took full advantage of a mistake from Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni and lobbed over the defence into the net.
Halftime substitute Graziano Pelle was next on the score sheet for the Saints, after a Cuco Martina cross found the Italian on the far post and he put his header home.
The Eagles got one back straight away when Jason Puncheon made the most of a failed clearance from Saints custodain Fraser Forster to score from just outside the box. That was as close as Palace got though with Ronald Koeman’s men adding another two goals from Ryan Bertrand and Steven Davis to wrap up the win.
The result puts Southampton into the Europa League after securing sixth position with West Ham’s loss to Stoke. The Eagles, on the other hand, have a lot of work to do before the F.A Cup Final next weekend against Manchester United.
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Palace lucky to stay that close
There were periods in the game where Southampton were able to dominate and attack the opposition defence, despite the stats showing that the home side only had two more shots and only one more on target. It more came down to the quality of chances being created by the Saints.
Mane was the clear man of the match as he was causing the Eagles defence no end of trouble. The No.10 won the penalty that moved the game out of sight, although it appeared that the contact came outside the box. The quality of ball distribution from Mane was giving Southampton seemingly endless opportunities to extend the lead, but the finishing in front of goal was not quite accurate enough.
8 – Sadio Mané has scored eight goals in his last eight Premier League appearances. Streak.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 15, 2016
Southampton improvement continues
It was another campaign where manager Ronald Koeman showed he capabilities as a leader. His side set a record point total for the south coast club with 63 from the season. They also improved their goal scoring, with 59 goals in the league being five more than last time aorund and they have also secured a place in the Europa League after West Ham failed to get a win against Stoke.
The league has noticed the rise of Southampton under the guidance of Koeman and the Dutchman has been linked with a move to Everton. It would be a strange decision though, to go from a club on the rise to one that has been on the slide in the last few seasons.
A disappointing 2015-16 comes to an end
After starting with so much promise Crystal Palace have ended their poor second-half of the season with yet another loss. The plunge from fifth to 15th has been one that left them with a record in the latter stages of the campaign that is worse than some of the teams that were relegated, not winning a game away from home in the league since beating Stoke before Christmas.
In the 21 games after that the Eagles only secured two wins and only picked up a possible 13 points from a possible 63, leaving them only five above the relegation zone. The only redeeming factor to the second-half of the season for Palace is the cup run, that has completely gone against the form they showed in the league.
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