Swansea 5 - 4 C PalaceSwansea City stun Crystal Palace as Fernando Llorente settles thriller
Home team scorersGylfi Sigurdsson 36
Leroy Fer 66
Leroy Fer 68
Fernando Llorente 90 +0:04
Fernando Llorente 90 +2:27
Away team scorersWilfried Zaha 19
James Tomkins 75
Jack Cork 82 o.g.
Christian Benteke 84
It will go down as one of the most extraordinary matches in Premier League history and leaves Alan Pardew fighting to save his job after Swansea City staged an improbable comeback, scoring twice in injury time to breathe new life into their own season and inflict a sixth successive defeat on Crystal Palace.
Trailing 3-1, Palace thought they had the game won when they scored three times in nine minutes to turn this remarkable game on its head. Swansea supporters were leaving the stadium with six minutes remaining, presumably resigned to relegation after Christian Benteke had scored Palace’s fourth goal.
Yet Swansea were far from finished. Fernando Llorente struck twice in injury time to spark wild celebrations on the home bench and in the stands.
It is Swansea’s first win since the opening day of the season and, while there are so many problems to address in defence, now is not the time for a post-mortem into where it all went wrong at the back.
As for Palace, Pardew has a major job on his hands to pick his players up. He said before the game that he “couldn’t see us winning at Swansea unless we get two goals”. Little did the Palace manager realise that they would need six. They have not kept a clean sheet in 18 matches and it is easy to see why on this evidence.
It had been such a miserable few months for Swansea on and off the field and there was a notable admission from the chairman, Huw Jenkins, in the matchday programme that he accepted some responsibility. “There has been far too much negativity about the place since the start of the season. But I will be the first to admit that there are a number of things I personally could have dealt with differently in the summer which may have helped us start the season in a far more upbeat and positive way.”
Jenkins never elaborated on that last comment, leaving it open to guesswork as to whether he was alluding to the decision to keep Francesco Guidolin on as manager, the flawed recruitment strategy that resulted in Joe Allen slipping through the net and £15m spent on Borja Bastón, who was not even on the bench here, or the way in which the takeover was handled. In truth, it could have been all three.
Swansea badly needed something to cling to on the pitch, yet it was Palace who started the game far more brightly and opened the scoring. From Swansea’s point of view it was a dreadful goal to concede and highlighted the same old weaknesses in defence. Benteke outjumped Jordi Amat – a mis-match is ever there was one – to flick on a long ball and Zaha did the rest, wriggling clear of Neil Taylor far too easily before drilling a low right-footed shot from 12 yards beyond Lukasz Fabianski.
Although Gylfi Sigurdsson had squandered a decent chance to put Swansea ahead earlier in the game, when he shot tamely at Wayne Hennessey after fine work from Mo Barrow on the right flank, Palace looked the more dangerous team in the opening half an hour. Connor Wickham, totally unmarked, came close to adding a second with a downward header that Fabianski dived low to his right to keep out.
Then Swansea got a lifeline. Jason Puncheon clumsily fouled Jack Cork just outside the penalty area and there was a sense of inevitability about what would follow. Sigurdsson, after what felt like an age as the Swansea players complained about the Palace wall not being 10 yards, stepped up to curl a brilliant free-kick past Hennessey.
Pardew was clearly annoyed that the free-kick was given and the sight of Palace wasting a wonderful chance to retake the lead two minutes later did nothing to improve his mood. Yohan Cabaye took the ball around Fabianski, who seemed to hesitate as he came off his line, and with the angle narrowing floated the ball into the area. Zaha met the cross with a powerful header that came back off the bar and, with the goal yawning invitingly in front of them, Benteke and Wickham got in one another’s way.
Swansea, however, finished the first half strongly. Leroy Fer and Cork combined to set up Barrow, who thrashed at a right-footed shot that flew wide from no more than six yards, and there were signs that some confidence and belief was starting to return to their play.
Palace, in contrast, had lost their way a little, with Wickham’s injury not helping their cause. It was such a strange incident as Sigurdsson, shaping to cross but then checking back, tied the Palace striker in knots. Wickham seemed to fall awkwardly and was in considerable pain.
Worse was to follow for Palace as Swansea struck twice in two minutes, both from set-pieces. The first arrived via Sigurdsson’s outswinging corner, which Llorente met with a powerful header, seconds after coming off the bench. Cabaye appeared to use his arm to clear the ball off the line, but play continued and Fer stabbed home.
There was not much different about Swansea’s third, only this time it was a Sigurdsson free-kick that caused consternation in the Palace area. Amat flicked the ball on and it ricocheted off a couple of Palace players before dropping for Fer to again convert.
Palace, however, responded superbly. Scott Dann headed down in the area, James McArthur hooked the ball on, it struck James Tomkins on the thigh and slipped past Fabianski. Seven minutes later it was 3-3 in farcical circumstances as Zaha crossed from the left and the ball looped off the top of Cork’s head and into the far corner.
Palace suddenly sensed a chance to win it and looked like they had when Benteke, after more calamitous Swansea defending, hooked in yet another Dann header. Swansea and Llorente, though, had not read the script.
Guardian