Crystal Palace made it two wins and clean sheets in a row as they saw off Brentford 2-0 to cap an impressive week.
Jean-Philippe Mateta’s brilliant header put the Eagles ahead in the first half before Nathan Collins nodded past his own keeper from Jefferson Lerma’s long throw early in the second period.
Palace comfortably closed out the victory to rise to seventh in the Premier League table.
Daily Mail Sport’s WILL PICKWORTH was at Selhurst Park and he has picked out some key talking points from the match.
Crystal Palace comfortably beat Brentford 2-0 to rise to seventh in the Premier League table
Oliver Glasner’s side made it two wins in four days after their victory over Liverpool in midweek
Mateta proves his worth
It is turning out to be some season for Mateta. Having made his debut for France last month, he is now joint-second in the Premier League scoring charts with six strikes in 10 games.
But, in recent weeks he has faced criticism for his wastefulness after costly misses in defeats by AEK Larnaca and Everton – and he even underperformed his xG when he netted a hat-trick against Bournemouth last month.
Yet, he offers so much to this team, and his all-round game continues to improve. His goal here was his 33rd in 60 top flight games under Oliver Glasner – after 11 in 80 matches before the Austrian’s arrival – and he ensured Collins had a torrid afternoon.
‘I feel fantastic,’ the Frenchman said post-match. ‘We needed that win and I’m very happy.’
Jean-Philippe Mateta silenced his recent critics with a brilliant first half header for the Eagles
Hosts win ‘battle of the long throws’
This game had been dubbed the ‘battle of the long throws’ by some given these two sides are the most prolific from such situations since the start of last season.
For Brentford, Michael Kayode was launching his rockets, while Jefferson Lerma held that responsibility for Palace, and it was the latter who had the last laugh.
Just minutes into the second half, the Colombian caused panic in the Brentford defence and Collins could only nod past Caoimhin Kelleher to kill any hope of a Bees comeback.
‘We didn’t have a lot of time to train (this week),’ Glasner said. ‘Coming home at three in the morning (after the Liverpool game), yesterday was recovering. We had 25 minutes on the pitch and 15 minutes was spent on defending and attacking throw ins as we knew this would be a topic today.
‘Credit to my assistants who prepared for the clips and the set-up. We spoke that it could be a set play battle and in the end I think we won the battle. It is a very important and good win today.’
Jefferson Lerma’s second half throw in caused chaos and Nathan Collins scored an own goal
It was a frustrating day for Brentford who struggled to create many clear-cut chances
Bees fail to sparkle
Despite the pre-season doom-mongering surrounding Brentford, they headed into this clash on the back of three successive wins in all competitions by an aggregate score of 10-2 – and were level on points with Palace.
But they barely mustered an effort on target and the hosts, who are so well-drilled, nullified them with ease to secure an eighth clean sheet of the season in all competitions.
âWe were below-par in the performance level,’ Bees boss Keith Andrews said. ‘They’re a very difficult team to break down and it’s a tricky place to come to, but I donât feel like there was a lot in the game.’
