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Crystal Palace go sixth in table after narrow win at Watford
Yohan Cabaye fired Crystal Palace up to sixth place in the Premier League table with the only goal of the game at Watford.
The French midfielder converted a 71st-minute penalty after Wilfried Zaha had been upended by Hornets defender Allan Nyom.
The proportion of away wins has been a feature of the Premier League this season, and there’s no side leading that trend more than Crystal Palace. This was its third win in four away games this season and its ninth in twelve since Alan Pardew took over as manager last season. Remarkably, seven games into the season, there have still been more away wins than home wins – 25 to 24.
To an extent that is a freak that will probably correct as the season wears on, but Palace’s style of play, sitting deep, absorbing pressure and then striking with pace down the flanks, probably is better suited to playing away when there is no onus to take the initiative. This took it to 12 points, just four behind the leaders Manchester United, sixth in the table and perhaps seriously contemplating a challenge for Europa League qualification.
For Watford, it was just a second defeat of the season and, while its goal threat is limited, this was another solid defensive display. It may be that, as with so many promoted sides in the past, it finds life harder as the season goes on, opponents start to work it out and deficiencies in the squad are exposed but, for now, there is no reason for panic. There is a solidity and clear structure to Quique Sanchez Flores’s side that makes it hard to break down. Until the 70th minute, Palace had been facing its first away draw under Alan Pardew but a clumsy challenge from Allan Nyom and Cabaye’s conversion of the resulting penalty settled the game.
It’s a mark of the recent achievement of both clubs that this was their first ever meeting in the top flight – even though it was the 77th they had played each other in the league. The two clubs have tracked each others’ progress, starting out in Division Three (South) with a 2-2 draw in 1921 and slowly moving up through the divisions. It might also be said that their upward mobility is reflective of a more general shift in the centre of power in English football from north to south and the old industrial heartlands suffer a lack of investment and an image problem that makes players favour clubs close to the London.
That familiar Palace style combined with Nyom’s haplessness, had almost brought an opener after 13 minutes as Bakary Sako was tugged back by the Cameroonian defender. Cabaye’s free-kick was met by a firm header from Brede Hangeland but Heurelho Gomes made a fine reflex save.
That was a rare clear chance in a first half that was engaging enough but played largely in midfield, perhaps vindicating Pardew’s decision to push Jason Puncheon back to that, rather than a 4-2-3-1 the shape was more of a 4-3-3 with the winger tucked in alongside Cabaye and Joe Ledley.
Such penetration as Watford did offer before half-time came largely down the left, with Ikechi Anya bursting forward from left-back and linking with the tidy Jose Manuel Jurado. Palace had clearly identified the Scotland international – who can also play in midfield – as a potential weakness, repeatedly attacking down that flank in the opening minutes.
It was rather more adventurous after the break, as though growing in self-belief. Jurado struck the bar with a free-kick two minutes into the second half and seven minutes after that Almen Abdi drew a fine low save from Wayne Hennessey, in for Alex McCarthy after a couple of recent errors, with a fizzing half-volley from just outside the box.
The awkwardness of Palace, though, is the more you attack it, the more dangerous it becomes and Watford’s flurry led to two chances for Palace on the break. First, Sako’s free-kick was deflected off the end of the wall, forcing Gomes into an awkward, unorthodox save, then the Mali forward, bursting down the left crossed low for the onrushing Dwight Gayle whose effort under pressure from Craig Cathcart beat the goalkeeper but came back off the angle of post and bar.
With 20 minutes to go, the breakthrough came. Wilfried Zaha took on Nyom on the outside, tempting him into a needless lunging challenge. Zaha was too quick and was brought down; the only decision the referee Anthony Taylor had to make was whether the infringement was just inside or just outside the box. Watford protested, but Cabaye swept in the penalty, the first goal Watford had conceded at home all season.
Gayle spurned two further chance son the break to increase Palace’s lead as Watford’s increasingly frenetic efforts to force an equaliser left it more and more open at the back. Cabaye’s goal, though, was enough to maintain Palace’s remarkable travelling form.
