Crystal Palace 1-3 Southampton
Scott Dann 86'
Sadio Mane 17'
Ryan Bertrand 48'
Toby Alderweireld 53'Southampton stormed back into the top four and sent Crystal Palace tumbling into the relegation zone thanks to an impressive victory at Selhurst Park.
Sadio Mané scored the first and sparkled throughout, as Ryan Bertrand and Toby Alderweireld completed the scoring for the visitors. Scott Dann’s late goal for the hosts did little to dilute the frustration of Palace fans, who have seen their team win just once in their last 12 matches.
Palace occasionally caused problems for Southampton but being competitive while failing to win is becoming a regular theme for Neil Warnock’s team, who seem locked in a downward spiral. For the first time this season many in the home crowd vented their anger with the manager, chanting “you don’t know what you’re doing” when he replaced Yannick Bolasie with Martin Kelly in the 71st minute, by which time Palace were three goals down.
Southampton’s team bus arrived at the ground later than planned because of heavy traffic around Selhurst Park but the visitors enjoyed a relatively clear path to Crystal Palace’s goal. Mané was the first to exploit that freedom of movement when he opened the scoring in the 17th minute. The Senegalese beat Dann to a flicked-on ball and laid it back to James Ward-Prowse before spinning and darting into space as the entire Palace defence watched motionless. A duplicitous feint was enough for Mané to elude Julian Speroni and the forward, who has often been guilty of rashness since joining in the summer, kept his composure to slot the ball into the unguarded net from a difficult angle.
Southampton might have been expected to build on that lead seeing as they had been the better side up to the goal, Alderweireld foring Speroni to push a surprising half-volleyed lob onto the bar in the third minute and Graziano Pelle heading over at the near post in the sixth minute. However, Palace mounted acomeback that had the visitors fretting for much of the remainder of the first period.
Scoring, however, has been a recurring problem for Warnock’s side, which is why the manager has made no secret of the fact that he believes it is vital for the club to recruit at least one new striker in January.
Midfielder Mile Jedinak is Palace’s top scorer this season thanks to his prowess from set-pieces and he brought a solid save from Fraser Forster in the 26th minute from a free kick.
Southampton were again set up in the 3-5-2 formation that Ronald Koeman introduced for the victory over Everton in their last match but Palace found occasional gaps in the central defence. The biggest one emerged in the 32nd minute when Jedinak’s header ran through to Fraizer Campbell, who was not offside despite the flag from the assistant referee, who may have been grateful to see the striker’s shot cannon out off the crossbar.
Southampton tightened up after that and Alderweireld produced an excellent block at the edge of the area to thwart Bolasie in the 40th minute.
At half-time Palace no doubt told themselves they could still overturn their deficit despite only having found the net once in the four matches prior to this one. But their recovery prospects soon took a severe turn for the worse.
In the 48th minute Mané, producing perhaps his best display for Southampton on the day he was named in his country’s preliminary squad for the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations, twisted his way past Joel Ward on the right and delivered a cross that fell to Bertrand, who whacked a ferocious right-footed shot into the net from the edge of the box.
Five minutes later Ward was found wanting again as Alderweireld soared above him to head a corner from Ward-Prowse into the net to plunder his first goal for Southampton.
A stinging long shot from Clyne tested Speroni moments later before Palace attempted to pick themselves up, José Fonte having to clear the ball from under his own bar after a dangerous move by the home side.
In the week that Southampton confirmed that the Dutch winger Eljero Elia will join them on loan in January, Mané seemed intent on demonstrating his own value to the team. In the 69th minute the Senegalese danced past two defenders and curled a lovely effort inches over the bar from 20 yards.
Palace continued to plug away and earned a reward in the 86th minute when Dann nodded into the net from a Jedinak freekick.
Palace: Speroni; Marriappa, Delaney, Dann, Ward; Jedinak, McArthur; Ledley (Zaha 66), Puncheon, Bolasie (Kelly 71); Campbell (Gayle 48)
Subs: Hennessey, Hangeland, Kelly, Bannan, Zaha, Thomas, Gayle,
Saints: Forster; Gardos, Alderweireld, Yoshida; Clyne (McCarthy 86), Schneiderlin, Ward-Prowse, S. Davis (Wanyama 55), Bertrand; Pellè (Long 71), Mané.
Subs: K Davis, Long, Wanyama, Tadic, Reed, McCarthy, Targett
Man of the match: Sadio Mané
Referee: M Dean
Rating: 6/10
Source: Guardian
