Crystal Palace run riot with Zaha after Pereira's VAR red at West Brom
This was a lunchtime kick-off that had threatened to go largely unnoticed but the explosive return of Wilfried Zaha coupled with another video assistant referee controversy, which led to West Brom being reduced to 10 men after 34 minutes and Crystal Palace romping to their biggest Premier League away win, ensured debate would continue long after the full-time whistle.
Matheus Pereira was found guilty of violent conduct after an innocuous collision with Patrick van Aanholt and, while there was no commotion among visiting players or staff, his red card paved the way for Palace to run away with victory – Zaha scoring twice and Christian Benteke registering his first goals since July. West Brom deservedly levelled through Conor Gallagher but were ultimately overpowered following Pereira’s sending off.
It looked ominous for Pereira when the referee, Paul Tierney, went to the pitchside VAR monitor. Pereira stood hands on hips, nervously awaiting his fate and Slaven Bilic hovered behind Tierney, attempting to peer over his shoulder at the replays but powerless to change the outcome. The official had booked Pereira, who appeared to make contact with Van Aanholt’s groin after trying to drag himself to his feet, but the VAR, Michael Oliver, encouraged Tierney to take a second look and, presumably with the sound of Stockley Park ringing his ears, he upgraded the punishment.
Bilic said it was a “very cheap” red card but bemoaned Pereira for giving the officials something to think about. “He gave them an option,” Bilic said.
“For me it was the other way around; if the referee saw the incident and gave him a red straight away, I would understand it but the more you watch it, the less it is a red card. Maybe there is little contact. I would say a reaction is there but it wasn’t a kick. And I’m not happy with the way we collapsed after.”
That decision flattened West Brom, who had a spring in their step for all of four minutes after a superb equaliser by Gallagher, a player on Palace’s wishlist in the summer. The Chelsea loanee, who opened his account in victory last weekend, coolly converted Darnell Furlong’s cutback following a defencesplitting pass by Semi Ajayi. If West Brom felt aggrieved at Pereira’s dismissal, they were up in arms when Vicente Guaita, the Palace goalkeeper, appeared to wipe out Branislav Ivanovic. Tierney later ignored Gallagher’s halfhearted appeal when the midfielder went to ground under pressure from James McArthur. “For me, it was a penalty,” Bilic said.
Benteke scored twice in a Palace shirt for the first time in three years and this was also their first five-goal haul on the road in the top flight. Not so rare is Zaha’s virtuosity – they had lost 15 of their previous 17 matches without their talisman – and, after missing the defeats to Burnley and Newcastle following a positive coronavirus test, he was brilliant on his return and the architect as Palace took the lead on eight minutes. Moments after skimming the bar, he picked up Luka Milivojevic’s pass, eluded Pereira’s powderpuff challenge and delivered a fiendish cross, which Furlong haplessly put past Sam Johnstone.
Zaha rattled in Palace’s second after dancing in from the left and, from there, the floodgates opened. Benteke nodded in Van Aanholt’s cute cross at the front post before Zaha doubled his tally after feeding off the scraps of a fine run by Eberechi Eze. With victory in the bag, Hodgson had the rare luxury of being able to withdraw Zaha with eight minutes to play, much to the forward’s frustration. But there was still time for Palace to amplify Albion’s agony and, moments later, Benteke hammered in a fifth. “He showed everyone out there: ‘I haven’t lost anything. I’m still Christian Benteke, you can rely on me,’” Hodgson said. “The real test is consistency.