Crystal Palace have finally gotten a point in 2016 after a 1-1 draw with 16th placed Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.
Swansea started brighter in the game and got the opener after Emmanuel Adebayor gave away a foul on Gylfi Sigurdsson. The Icelandic midfielder guided his subsequent free-kick into the bottom-corner past Wayne Hennessey.
It took until the start of the second-half for the Eagles to really find any real constant attacking movement. After a shot on target was cleared out for a corner by Swansea defender Ashley Williams, Damien Delaney flicked the ball on to Scott Dann who volleyed past Lukas Fabianski.
Despite Swansea having chances to take all three points, they were unable to capitalise and will be looking to continue the good play when they host Southampton. Crystal Palace will next be returning home to take on Watford with an injury cloud now hanging over Yohan Cabaye, who had to be replaced in the second-half.
Palace lucky to escape with a point
Crystal Palace were fortunate that they were not further down by halftime. Alan Pardew’s men started fairly slowly compared to the speed that Swansea had early on, making it look as though it was going to be a long day for the Palace defence.
There were multiple times when the left-side of the field was taken advantage of, with Pape Souare not having his best day and getting beaten on a few occasions that lead to some really good chances for the Swans. The first goal came after an ineffective clearance for Palace forced a bit of a scramble, resulting in a foul being given away by Adebayor in a dangerous position which was used to great effect.
Even when they were able to get into the game and actually assert themselves it was short lived. In the first few minutes there was some really promising combinations from Wilfried Zaha and Adebayor, which should give the Palace supporters some hope in the weeks to come.
After the break they seemed to fall back into the same issues they were having in the first half, as Swansea pushed forward to get the game winning goal. If it was not for some crucial interventions from captain Mile Jedinak who was getting the defensive work done and a great save from Hennessey, the hosts would have claimed the three points.
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Sigurdsson’s good form continues
After what was a slow start to the season, what good form he has had since the New Year. A brilliant free-kick made it five goals in six games and he was fairly instrumental in much of the forward play from there out. The set pieces was where he was key in this game, testing Hennessey with another free-kick in the second-half. A close chance came from a corner, where the Icelander nearly found Andre Ayew at the back post, however, the Frenchman could not direct the ball on goal.
Swansea’s resurgence has come along with Sigurdsson’s return to form, so the supporters will hope that it continues for the rest of the season.
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