Schlupp’s stunner as 10-man Palace go fifth
IF AMAZON founder Jeff Bezos had sat down to watch the first Premier League game shown by the streaming service, he could have been forgiven if he had switched off after an hour.
Palace defender Jeffrey Schlupp, scored off the bench for the second game in succession as 10- man Palace made it two wins in four days to go fifth in the table, while Bournemouth produced a pitiful display despite playing with a man advantage for most of the game following Mamadou Sakho’s sending-off in the 19th minute.
But for their £90million, amazon will be expecting a little more excitement than was on show in the first 65 minutes of this match. Hodgson will not care a jot, of course, while the visitors’ run of one win in nine matches — and their lack of bite here — is worrying Eddie Howe.
‘The feeling coming off is probably as low as I’ve been as Bournemouth manager,’ he told BBC Solent. ‘I have to take ultimate responsibility for what we’ve seen. It’s not been good enough lately. I have to take the brunt of that. I’m devastated by the result and the way we played.’
Bournemouth made four changes from the side beaten 3-2 at Tottenham on Saturday, while Sakho’s introduction for the injured Scott Dann was the only tweak Palace manager Roy Hodgson made to the team who won 2-0 at Burnley.
Adam Smith’s touch was heavy as he collected Callum Wilson’s return pass following a throw- in, yet Sakho’s challenge was dangerous and referee anthony Taylor had little choice but to show a red card.
Hodgson felt there was ‘no malice’ in the tackle but accepted it was a red card in the modern game.
That did not stop some Palace supporters applauding Sakho off as he walked down the touchline, while both Taylor and Smith were booed throughout the remainder of the first half.
With Sakho off, Hodgson instructed Cheikhou Kouyate to drop from midfield alongside James Tomkins in central defence, and the former England manager was forced to reorganise again in the 28th minute when Patrick van aanholt was forced off with a hamstring injury. The Dutchman, who was replaced by Schlupp, will have a scan tomorrow.
It was 39 minutes before we saw the first effort on target, a tame shot from Philip Billing that did not trouble Vicente guaita. Besides that, there was little to keep the supporters in the ground — let alone those with amazon Prime subscriptions — from switching off.
at the start of the second half, the visitors squandered a glorious opportunity to take the lead when neither Dominic Solanke nor Callum Wilson could turn in Harry Wilson’s low cross from the right.
at the other end, Wilfried zaha tumbled under a challenge from Chris Mepham after a thrilling charge from halfway, only for referee Taylor to reject the penalty appeal.
Palace’s frustration turned to joy soon afterwards when Schlupp collected the ball near halfway and, with no hint of a Bournemouth challenge, ran all the way into the box before slamming a left-foot shot under aaron Ramsdale.
Ramsdale kept his team in it moments later with a fine save to keep out a dipping effort from distance by James McCarthy, another substitute.
With time running out, Bournemouth finally started to show more menace as Jefferson Lerma forced guaita to turn his low shot from outside the box around the post.
Hodgson said: ‘I was absolutely delighted with the performance and really pleased for the players, who deserve a lot of credit.’