A dominant but variegated Crystal Palace triumphed over a Norwich City squad that seems to have finally succumbed to a vast number of injuries, with the loss at Selhurst Park their fifth from their last six games.
Palace controlled the ebb and flow of the game and when the momentum was in their favour, it was only their inaccuracy that inhibited them; but when they fell out of focus their porosity in the middle of the park was worrying. Against a better – and maybe a less ‘injured’ – Norwich side, Palace may have had to struggle a bit more for their win. The Eagles marked their intent early, with two instances of forward pressure creating opportunities on the counter.
There were only two chances on target in the first 22 and a half minutes of the first-half, with both of them coming to Palace in a period of dominance, the second was Luka Milivojevic’s first goal of the season, a penalty, after Ibrahim Amadou tripped James McArthur in the box. Interestingly, this was Milivojevic’s 22nd Premier League penalty – and his 20th conversion – while Norwich have only had 21 top flight penalties in the Premier League era.
Milivojevic’s goal marked the end of Fährmann’s afternoon, who must have aggravated a groin complaint that had him in doubt coming into the match, so 35-year-old Michael McGovern made his maiden Premier League appearance in goal. Palace’s centre of midfield lost some of its rigidity after the goal, becoming quite malleable and allowing Norwich a sniff of parity in the match. However, Palace held out and could have had a second penalty after Todd Cantwell displaced Wilfried Zaha’s landing foot in the box, but a lack of an appeal from the on-field players saw the opportunity dismissed.
The second half was mostly dominated by skied opportunities from the home side at Selhurst Park, until substitute Andros Townsend achieved what his teammates failed to do last week and put the game to bed in stoppage time with his first goal of the season.
Another team’s ‘rubbish’, is another team’s treasure
Deemed surplus to requirements after seven valiant seasons at Stamford Bridge, Gary Cahill found himself without a football club for the first time since he was just 15-years-old when he was not offered a new contract by Chelsea during the English summer. Palace swooped in on the veteran England international who has planted himself in the heart of the Eagles’ defence since his opening appearance for the first-team in game-week three against Manchester United.
Cahill has a clause in his contract giving the 33-year-old permission to excavate from within Palace’s walls should they be relegated. However, Cahill has taken for the club relatively quickly, exuding with passion and joy while playing for the club which has been obvious in his performances thus far. The Englishman leads the club in blocks and clearances per game, and if he continues in this vain of form for the rest of the season he will have made a convincing case to be crowned the unofficial title of ‘the recruit of the season’.
Injuries threatening to derail a season before it has truly started
Norwich were missing seven first team players coming into this game and this was further compounded by reserve keeper, Fährmann’s aggravated groin injury not even 22 minutes into the game. After being crowned Championship champions last season, Norwich altered their training methods in order to match the high intensity of the Premier League, a league that requires vigorous and repetitive sprint efforts from each player on the field. This may well have been a contributing factor to the increasing population of the Canaries’ injury room.
Regarding the new training regime, City’s head of performance Chris Domogolla said “What we had already worked out from the stats was that the number of high-intensity sprints was more in the Premier League than we had been used to during our two seasons in the Championship.” Following on from that statement in the same interview, Domogolla stated: “You might want to make a player more resilient in terms of mindset because mental fatigue can stop them from reaching the next physical level, so you push the intensity to achieve that.”
Increasing the strain placed on the body undoubtedly can increase the risk of physical damage and, unfortunately for Norwich, it seems their luck has forsaken them on the injury front. With 18 injuries reported since the start of the season, Norwich’s first team had missed 243 days through injury (as of the 25th of September), more than double the next most injury-riddled side in Newcastle with 110. A favourable run of fixtures awaits, with games against three of the bottom five intertwined with fixtures with seventh-placed Bournemouth and an erratic Manchester United. It must be a frustrating time for the Norwich faithful, but with winnable games ahead and some of the shorter-term injured players to return, things might be about to turn.
Palace is the name, forward pressure? The game
Last season it was Palace’s distinct ductility in midfield that was their defining characteristic, but this season it seems their forward pressure is the larger nuisance to opposing teams. The first two significant chances of this game fell to Palace as a result of their oft relentless pressure, with 21-year-old Cantwell the victim on both occasions. In the end, neither of the two goals were a result of the forward pressure, instead it was an errant foot from Ibrahim Amadou and a poorly executed clearance by opposition keeper, McGovern, that were the catalysts for the goals.
At times this season, Palace’s midfield has been near impenetrable but despite the trio of James McArthur, Cheikou Kouyaté and Luka Milivojevic all possessing vast individual defensive qualities, they haven’t seemed to have clicked at all times this season. Kouyaté is still trying to impose himself as a true two-way midfielder, while Milivojevic – after off-season struggles amidst ongoing contract negotiations – has the captain’s armband to contend with. McArthur has remained his consistent self, contributing weekly with admirable, but not headline catching performances. Despite this, the team has held up well and the front trio of the last five gameweeks has proved a handful for the opposition and Roy Hodgson will need them to continue in the same vain if Palace are to succeed in their quest for the top 10.
Opportunities to be had, but none taken
Norwich had their opportunities to peg back their opponent’s lead back and some players were guiltier than others for not taking their chances. Todd Cantwell, who was the major culprit, had two shots from inside the box but neither of them would have troubled any keeper, let alone a shot-stopper of Guaita’s experience. The first of which was the aforementioned shot that he tried to place in the far-left corner, when he should’ve attempted the shot with much more ferocity. History repeated itself in the second half when he had an opening from a similar angle – a bit further out on the opposite side of the box – but the result was all the same.
Norwich’s clinical striker thus far, Teemu Pukki, had his first true blight of the season with just one shot which wasn’t even on target. After mustering the most shots on target (14) and the second most shots from inside the box (18) throughout the first six game-weeks, it was a much less eventful one from the rampaging Finn. Although little blame can be put on one of the in-form players in the competition who was often isolated throughout the match.
Pukki was matched up against Palace centre-backs Cahill and Martin Kelly, both of whom have featured for ‘top-six’ clubs over the years. Opportunities against a pair who have now conceded just two goals from their five starts together were always going to be hard to come by, even with a unified attacking group. However, with an international break coming after this upcoming game week and players beginning to return for Daniel Farke’s side, hopefully for Norwich, Pukki should have much more support than he was given against Palace.
Six home games undefeated
Last season Palace had the third worst home record in the league, yet still managed to finish less than three wins’ worth of points from the European places. This win registered their sixth consecutive game without a loss at home, extending to the back end of last season after a draw against Everton and a last-day victory in an eight-goal fiesta with Bournemouth. This is their most consecutive games undefeated at home since their record 3rd-place finish in the top flight in 1992/93 under a man who is considered one of, if not, the greatest coach in club’s history, Steve Coppell.
Interestingly, with this win now on the cards, Hodgson’s Palace have clocked an average of 1.32 points per game (ppg), surpassing Steve Coppell’s record as manager (1.29ppg). After the 72-year-old manager achieved a similarly miraculous feat with Fulham in 2009/10 season, finishing 7th then coaching them to a runners-up medal in the Europa League, could he guide Palace to neighbouring heights?
With their emphatic talisman, Zaha back to “the Zaha that we know and love” – according to Roy himself, in an interview following the match on Saturday – and on the back of a nostalgic Gary Cahill and an extremely unheralded Vincente Guaita, Hodgson has some more than handy tools in his box to work with.
Up next
Palace’s run of difficult fixtures begins next week with a visit to the London Stadium to face a West Ham side, who are unbeaten since their opening weekend 0-5 humbling to the reigning champions, Manchester City. Daniel Farke’s side will hope to straggle to victory against relegation-bound, Aston Villa, despite a host of injuries to contend with, to ensure their season does not veer off course.
