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Crystal Palace emerged 3-1 victors over Burnley on Saturday despite Roy Hodgson having made five changes to the team that lost to Manchester United last time out, dropping the likes of Andros Townsend and first-choice goalkeeper Vicente Guaita in favour of a different look starting XI.
There was, of course, a starting spot for the ever-influential Wilfried Zaha, who is loving Palace’s new-found luxury.
What did he say?
Speaking about the weekend’s win, in which he scored, the 26-year-old said:
“Obviously, the gaffer [Hodgson] gives us a game plan and away from home we can’t be as open so we stay tight and try to break on teams.
“We went through stages where there were so many injuries and you looked at the bench and you can’t really mix it up the way the gaffer did [at Burnley].
“It’s nice to see because we obviously put some fresh legs out there and it made a difference. It’s hard when you play a three-game week, so it made a difference changing it up.”
Breathing room for Palace’s stars
In Palace’s five-year spell in the Premier League, there has largely been a big gulf between the starting XI and the bench or reserves but that is no longer the case, despite the Eagles spending frugally since a big-spending January two years ago.
Hodgson was able to call upon Max Meyer, Cheikhou Kouyate, Scott Dann and Wayne Hennessey and all deputised capably and, as Zaha says, this new-found depth makes Palace’s life far easier when the fixtures come thick and fast.
Additionally, when the Selhurst Park outfit’s key men burn out – Townsend in particular has hardly had a rest at all this season – it is crucial that they are able to be benched and that a back-up can step in and not look out of their depth in the starting XI.
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The pressure on the big names – Zaha, Townsend, Mamadou Sakho and Michy Batshuayi, for instance – therefore, is alleviated as they know they are in company that can still make a difference when they are absent, be it through injury or otherwise.
Unfortunately for him, Ivorian Zaha remains undroppable and Palace have a long way to go before they can afford to leave the electric number 11 on the bench but, nevertheless, the improvement in squad depth is there for all to see.
