Palace are in a ‘mini-crisis’, says Pardew

SAM ALLARDYCE is the frontrunner for the Crystal Palace hotseat, according to the bookies.

But Palace were given a huge helping hand against their manager’s former club via an uncharacteristic error from Fraser Forster, whose woeful missed kick allowed birthday boy Benteke to open the scoring with his first goal for Palace on home soil in the 33rd minute. Two weeks ago they were on the receiving end of a soft corner, which they failed to defend.

They also relieved much of the pressure on manager Alan Pardew, who had placed so much faith in Benteke, and the Belgian told Palace’s official website: “Finally”. James McArthur’s shot was deflected and Puncheon gambled on that and squared for Benteke to do the business from close range.

Pardew confirmed that he did meet with the chairman, but insisted it was nothing out of the ordinary and that the pair “meet and speak every day”.

Palace doubled their lead three minutes later as the previously measly Saints defence – who prior to the game had the third best defensive record in the league – were again caught napping Tomkins nipping to prod home from a couple of yards out.

Zaha was excellent on the ball and Puncheon did not put a foot wrong as he controlled the play in the middle.

Connor Wickham and Steve Mandanda are out for Crystal Palace while Yohan Cabaye is suspended.

Palace showed a determination not to be broken down and registered a first clean sheet of the Premier League campaign.

And it was Pardew who persuaded now club captain Jose Fonte to take the unusual step of jettisoning a Palace side then trying to battle their way out of the Championship to join a club in the division below. We need to get the players balanced – we don’t want to get overly tense.

“This is kind of a crisis at the moment, a mini-crisis’ that we have to get through”.

“I’ve never been his biggest fan off the pitch, I don’t like his vanity, the dancing at Wembley, and I don’t like his style, but I do think he is a good manager”.

“Sometimes it’s hard to dress up six defeats when you’re the owner of the club and you have investors. But I think today we had the right balance between being a bit cautious, as you would expect, and disciplined, and showing that little bit of flair”.