Away to Crystal Palace, I was a bit wary about our formation as I thought the midfield might get overrun as we did against Villa, but I had no need to worry. With blustery rain throughout the match it was not going to be easy for either set of players and would be more suited to our style of football, and I was right. Apart from Palace having an an excellent chance early on when Flekken's strong right arm made an excellent save from Mateta, we looked comfortable in the first half and were probably the better team. Wissa had a great chance that Henderson pushed past the post. It was nice for us to play with more than one forward and we were actually trying score. Both teams frequently gave the ball away and initially I blamed the conditions but on reflection there were many occasions we gave it away because we were trying to be too clever with our passing. The second half started brightly for Palace and we did retreat more than in the first half until the 65th minute when we were awarded a penalty. Mbeumo strolled up to surely score his 9th penalty out of 9, then incredibly he hit the left hand post. I immediately knew that we would now lose and was inconsolable as our chance of winning slipped away and I stormed out of the room. I even considered switching off the TV but when I came back into the room the replays clearly showed a Palace player encroaching in the penalty area and VAR ruled the kick had to be retaken. Mbeumo cooly sent the keeper the wrong way and we went 0-1 up. Then in the 80th minute a Damsgaard cross was brillaint headed in by Schade (who got injured in the process) and it was 0-2. I was now confident of a win but five minutes later with some sloppy defending they pulled one back. It was a nervy last 15 minutes (an extra 10 mins was added) but we held out for our three points. Overall, I felt we deserved the win.
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