BY ANDREW MCSTEEN
Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson believes his side are close to the form they showed at the end of last season when they went seven games unbeaten in a row after they held Premier League champions Manchester City to a 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola’s side came from behind twice to halt the SE25 side in their quest for three points and just their third win of a league season which had seen them languish in the relegation spots in recent weeks.
But the England shotstopper feels like the corner has been turned.
“It’s just going from strength to strength now,” said Henderson after his side extended their unbeaten run to four games, leaving them 17th in the table with 13 points from 15 games.
“We came into the game today after that win on Tuesday at Ipswich and, I can only speak for myself, I was genuinely believing we could win today. We went into every game last season sort of knowing we were going to win and it’s strange, but sometimes you just need back-to-back wins, a couple of wins. That’s what we’re looking for and we’re delighted with how it’s going.”
City have registered just one win in their last nine games, the worst run in Pep Guardiola’s managerial career, with the Spanish coach calling the Eagles’ display against them “really good” in his post-match press conference.
And for Henderson, the chink in the armour of the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup reigning champions was noticeable.
“I would say it felt different on the pitch. I can only go off today, but City at times are unbelievable, and sometimes you literally just don’t get a break and you don’t get out of your own half but they gave us a few chances today. Maybe we wouldn’t have got them last season, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to make that count, and we did today,” said the 27-year-old.
“They’re like a wounded animal at the minute, they’re struggling. It happens to the best of them. They’re human as well but it’s a great point for us. We’re delighted. No matter what run of form they’re in, they’re obviously world-class players and still one of the top teams in the Premier League and we will take huge confidence from that going forward.”
With first-team regulars Ismaila Sarr, Eddie Nketiah, Maxence Lacroix and Trevoh Chalobah missing most of the pre-season period with the Eagles due to their August transfers to South London, Henderson was quick to underline that with a third of the season now gone, the new arrivals have gelled, are up to speed and this has been key to the turnaround in fortunes.
“He’s come into the team, and at the start of the season, no-one really knew his strengths because we’ve never played together before,” said Henderson about Sarr, before further explaining the upturn in form.
“Now we’re seeing partnerships being formed at the back, in midfield and up the top of the pitch. We’re a ‘fitness’ team and it takes 10 games to get up to full fitness. You can see we’re outrunning a lot of teams now, and that was the aim at the start of the season, but we weren’t quite doing that – we were getting outrun and outbattled.
“Now, we’re only going to go from strength-to-strength and get better and better.”
PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD
Related stories