Tuesday night was a moment of celebration for Oliver Glasner’s FA Cup winners as Crystal Palace defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-2 in the Premier League.
Here are Alex Pewter’s talking points from the match in SE25.
AN FA-CUP-WINNING HOMECOMING
The football was secondary on Tuesday night. This game was about the crowd.
On a regular occasion, Eagles boss Glasner may question the defending from set-pieces, which is atypical of this season. He may question the execution of some of the passes. However, this was a moment for the fans to celebrate. If anything, the two occasions that Wolves scored only sparked the crowd into louder verse.
There was rotation in the team with a first Premier League start for Romain Esse, the January arrival from Millwall. There were heavyweights on the bench in the form of Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eberechi Eze.
The team was not forced out of second gear on their way to an exhibition-like 4-2 victory. Eddie Nketiah scored twice, and Ben Chilwell had a ‘mild’ deflection on his free-kick for the third. Eze arrived off the bench to score the 15th of his season, a career high.
In stoppage time a manager usually focuses on the result until the final whistle, but the Austrian even heeded the call of “Oli, give us a wave”. It was an evening to remember. The victory moved Crystal Palace to 52 points, a Premier League record for the club.
NKETIAH MAKES HIS MARK
Nketiah will undoubtedly be disappointed with much of his debut season at Crystal Palace.
Ill-fitted to the number 10 role he initially started in, and in the shadow of Mateta as a centre-forward. While he has been utilised as an effective late substitute in recent months, Tuesday was only his ninth start in the league.
Upon his arrival from Arsenal, Nketiah was advertised as the classic poacher and this fixture allowed him to deliver on that promise. Firstly, combining out wide with Esse, the pair recovered the ball deep in the Wolves half, Esse’s cutback set up Nketiah for the equaliser.
The second was a classic Palace attack down the right wing. Daniel Munoz and Ismaila Sarr opened the Wolves defence, with Nketiah occupying the spot often left for Eze.
With a glut of fixtures set for next season, Palace will be pleased to see both centre-forwards closing their season positively.
FAREWELL JOEL WARD
Football isn’t always poetic, but Joel Ward certainly has had that level of ending at Crystal Palace after his 13-year career at the club.
Having made his sole league appearance this season, stepping on the pitch to defend a lead with a two-player deficit against Brighton, lifting the cup at Wembley with Marc Guehi, his final home appearance was a start in red and blue at Selhurst Park with the captain’s armband.
A younger version of Ward would have slotted into the right centre-back spot for Glasner, and there were glimpses of that in this match. It’s often been questioned why he has yet to have the testimonial fixture granted to players with more than a decade of service, but this may be the more fitting occasion.
In the 72nd minute, the board went up, signalling the end of his Selhurst Park career, in his 364th appearance for the club – tears in his eyes, and to a standing ovation from the stands.
After full-time, the squad and staff stood in a guard of honour as Ward emerged from the tunnel, FA Cup in hand. It is a fitting end to an iconic Palace career.
PICTURES: ROB AVIS
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