C Palace 4 - 0 Hull

C Palace 4 - 0 Hull

Hull City relegated from Premier League after thrashing at Crystal Palace

Home team scorers
Wilfried Zaha 3
Christian Benteke 34
Luka Milivojevic 85 pen
Patrick Van Aanholt 90

In the end, hoisting Hull City clear of trouble proved beyond even Marco Silva. The Portuguese had arguably performed a minor miracle in stretching this team’s top-flight aspirations even into the penultimate weekend given the mess he had inherited, with players sold in January and a state of inertia gripping in the boardroom. Yet, in succumbing emphatically here, the worst was confirmed. While a wave of relief swept from south London to south Wales, there was only numbed disappointment back on Humberside. The Championship awaits.

This performance perhaps summed up the issues even Silva could not resolve. Their away record remains the worst in the division and never threatened to improve here. Hull hogged the ball and probed constantly as Crystal Palace, needing only to draw, sat deep and heaved to contain every cut and thrust. Yet there was no bite, no composure in the final third, and no reward. Chasing the contest from 133 seconds in, and always vulnerable at set-plays, they were eventually cut to shreds on the break. The final scoreline looked harsh but the feeling of demotion, and an opportunity missed by those on high, will be even more brutal.

Quite what happens next at the club is anyone’s guess, but keeping hold of Silva will be one of the hierarchy’s trickier tasks. His initial six-month contract expires next month, and it remains to be seen if he takes up the 12-month option. Such has been the favourable impression he has made since taking up the reins mid-season, plenty covet his services. Southampton have been mentioned as potential suitors should they dispense with Claude Puel’s services – as harsh as that would be – but Silva has only enhanced his reputation this year. He will be in demand.

He will meet the board this week, ahead of the final-day visit of Tottenham Hotspur and make clear his thoughts over the future – that of the club as well as his own – having publicly identified last summer’s chaos, which had briefly left them with 13 senior professionals going into a top-flight campaign, as the real reason this team have slipped back into the second tier. A defiant away support bellowed his name through most of the second half as his team desperately chased a two-goal deficit. They would not be silenced even after shipping two more in the final exchanges. “They didn’t deserve what’s happened this season,” said Silva. “This is a sad day for this club.”

By the time the substitute Patrick van Aanholt was sliding in Palace’s fourth goal in stoppage time, the tension which had built in these parts all season had long since been lanced. Palace, with a final-day trip to Old Trafford to come, had careered into this fixture patched up and fretting about their own futures, but those fears were eased by their early lead and, eventually, allayed altogether by their most emphatic home win of the season. It was no surprise that their three permanent January additions had combined to register the two late goals which thrust them up into mid-table. Jeffrey Schlupp had been tripped by Michael Dawson five minutes from time, with Luka Milivojevic sliding in the penalty. Van Aanholt’s subsequent reward merely added gloss.

Allardyce pointed to the funding found by the owners in January as “critical in this major escape we’ve achieved”. “Because of the run-in, the size of the teams we had to play, this was the hardest yet,” said the veteran of acts of escapism from Bolton to Sunderland. “We’ve not wasted the magnificent results we achieved, winning at Chelsea and Liverpool, beating Arsenal 3-0. A sunny day, last home game, 4-0 … it’s a great end to the season.”

So much had appeared to hinge on early impetus, only for Hull to implode from the off. Andrea Ranocchia is an experienced centre-half who boasts 21 caps for Italy and has excelled at Internazionale, so the 29-year-old was the last member of the visitors’ back-line who might be expected to crack. Yet, a little over two minutes in, there he was swinging a right boot wildly, under no discernible pressure, at Dawson’s headed pass and only managing to air-kick. Wilfried Zaha, later awarded Palace’s player of the year award for the second season in succession, burst forward at the Italian’s back to convert through Eldin Jakupovic and the game of catch-up had begun.

There were times when it vaguely threatened to yield a response but, too often, the possession ran aground on Palace’s massed ranks while Hull’s own vulnerability at the back was omnipresent. James Tomkins, who had barely kicked a ball for three weeks since sustaining an ankle injury at Anfield, might have converted Jason Puncheon’s corner but Christian Benteke eventually did, the forward permitted a free run into space to thump in a 15th league goal of term.

The sloppiness of the concession rendered Hull’s cause hopeless. Their late capitulation reflected their gloom. Palace’s support ended up belting out their latest adopted chorus, Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”, reminding the world that “every little thing is gonna be alright”. The visitors may not be quite as convinced.

Guardian