The Times’ journalist Henry Winter has outlined exactly why Crystal Palace beat Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
Jordan Ayew scored the only goal of the game at the AMEX Stadium as Roy Hodgson’s men won their first-ever top-flight match away to the Seagulls.
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The Eagles won the game against the run of play, with WhoScored reporting that Brighton had 23 shots on goal throughout the game. In comparison, Palace had just 10.
They also had only 33.6% of the possession, along with a mere three shots on target.
And Winter picked out five Palace players who were particularly deserving of praise for their performance against their rivals.
Winter is spot on, too.
Per WhoScored, Gary Cahill and Scott Dann were never dribbled past, while they also made nine clearances between them with Patrick van Aanholt having six to his name. Joel Ward made one clearance and one interception as well.
Aerially, Cahill was dominant, winning five of those duels.
Ayew, of course, was the man who hit the back of the net, helping his side climb 12 points clear of the bottom three before the remainder of Saturday’s fixtures.
Meanwhile, these players should have caught Palace’s eye!
