Zaha reminds big clubs of his talent
WILFRIED ZAHA needed 13 league games to get his first goal for Crystal Palace last season.
And the want-away winger’s wastefulness in front of goal is perhaps one of the reasons no one has been persuaded to meet the Eagles’ valuation of him yet.
This time out he needed just 13 minutes to get off the mark with the only goal of the game against Southampton.
And if he can bag two or three more in the next five weeks then maybe, just maybe he can tempt a bigger club into parting with the sort of sum that would get him the move he has been dreaming of.
For now, though, he’s still very much the main man at Selhurst Park and no wonder Eagles boss Roy Hodgson was chuffed to bits that he had delivered.
“Wilf showed a lot of composure to take the chance,” said Hodgson. “He made it look easy.
“He thinks it would be nice if some club came in and paid the market price – let’s see what transpires, hopefully nothing.
“He still hopes a big club comes in and takes him from us but we hope he’ll stay.
“The fact is every transfer window I’ve been involved in
Wilf has made noises.
“But for anything to happen then a club has to come along and pay the market price, and until that time I’m happy to keep working with Wilf.”
Hodgson was also delighted with Vicente Guaita’s contribution, particularly a save from Danny Ings in the second half, while James Mccarthy and James Mcarthur were very good in the middle of the park.
Hodgson added: “I am very pleased. It was always going to be a tough opening fixture for us and I’m pleased about the way we approached it.
“And I have to take my hat off to our goalkeeper for making a fantastic save from Danny Ings.”
Referee Jon Moss and VAR
Craig Pawson deserved a doff of the cap as well after Moss initially showed Kyle WalkerPeters a straight red for what he deemed a studs-up challenge on Cheikhou Kouyate early in the second half.
As per the guidance this season, Moss soon went over to his pitchside monitor and, after checking the replay, he downgraded the card, correctly, to a yellow. Saints boss Ralph Hassenhuttl said: “I spoke about it last season how referees should go to the screen more often so this is absolutely better.
“It was definitely the right thing to go there to have a look again and also brave to say, ‘No red card, just yellow’, it was the right decision.”
Palace had to work hard for their win with Southampton enjoying the lion’s share of possession but their final pass was not clinical enough.
Zaha had a second goal chalked out by VAR for a tight offside while, at the other end, Nathan Redmond’s shot was too easy for Guaita.