December 24 2017

Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Crystal Palace were held to a draw away at Swansea City. Mike Scott rates the players...

The Eagles may have stretched their unbeaten run to a record eight games, but they will feel that they should have taken advantage of the amount of breaks they had, in a match where the hosts had the majority of the ball but did nothing much with it for most of the game...

Julian Speroni - 6

Up until temporary Swansea boss Leon Britton made an inspired substitution and sent on Jordan Ayew, Speroni had next to nothing to do, aside from an excellent one-on-one stop to deny Tammy Abraham. After Ayew came on, he was soon picking the ball out of the back of his net, although he could do nothing about the rocket of a shot. He was lucky to not be beaten again soon after from the same man, who whistled one just wide. He’ll be frustrated he couldn’t beat Nigel Martyn’s all-time clean sheet record.

Martin Kelly - 6

In truth, there wasn’t a great deal of threat down Swansea’s left flank in the game, so Kelly had an easier afternoon than some of his teammates. He did look a little more expansive with the formation Hodgson used in the absence of Benteke, getting up for set-pieces and providing an overlap outlet. He was caught out once after being dispossessed on the edge of Swansea’s box; he was lucky Milivojevic was able to put a last-ditch challenge in to stop the break.

James Tomkins - 7

Tomkins put in yet another assured display and it’s no wonder there’s transfer rumours beginning to circulate and talk of £20 million bids. He made an excellent sliding stop early on in the second half to stop a cross going in to a packed box; he did the same thing 20 minutes later. He barely put a foot wrong all afternoon.

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Scott Dann - 7

Like Tomkins, Dann put in a strong display that was only really tarnished by the space given to Ayew after he came on and totally transformed the dynamic of the game. Before that, Swansea only managed two shots on target and very little came through the middle. Dann helped Schlupp early on as he suffered at the hands of the rampant Luciano Narsingh, doubling up to ensure he didn’t get a sight on goal.

Jeffrey Schlupp - 6

Schlupp had the lion’s share of the work in defence, dealing with Luciano Narsingh and Nathan Dyer, who were the home side’s only real threat in a first half. Schlupp held his own, but not without some serious scares. He was lucky to not concede a penalty a few minutes in, giving Narsingh far too much time and space and having to make a tackle in the box that had the home fans screaming at the referee. He was then nutmegged by the same player a few minutes later, who was unlucky to find the subsequent ball in wasted by Abraham. He didn’t get forward as much as recent games, perhaps due to the formation change enforced on Hodgson.

Luka Milivojevic - 7

A cooly-taken penalty, his third of the season, capped a decent return for Milivojevic, although he will be frustrated at the amount of space Palace gave Jordan Ayew as he ran riot and scored the equaliser. Before Ayew’s introduction, the large amount of possession Swansea had was mostly in non-dangerous areas, with Milivojevic marshalling a very compact looking defensive midfield area.

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Yohan Cabaye - 6

Cabaye had a quiet afternoon by his standards, with Palace playing on the break and relying on direct attacks that bypassed the usual creative midfield play he offers. His work was mainly in breaking up Swansea’s play in front of Palace’s back four; he did a good job, because the home side could do nothing to threaten despite a wealth of possession. Palace didn’t threaten too often from set pieces either, which will be a concern. He was swapped for Bakary Sako (5), who failed to have anything like the impact he has in recent games, barely getting involved with any of Palace’s moves.

James McArthur - 6

Like Cabaye, McArthur was not anywhere near as influential as he was against Leicester, where he dictated play in midfield. Swansea’s slow build up play and dominating first half performance meant they flooded the midfield and stopped the Scot from creating too much. The formation Hodgson opted for, in the absence of Benteke, doesn’t seem to offer him quite so much of an opportunity to get forward and support Zaha and Townsend.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek - 7

The away point may have come from Milivojevic’s cooly taken penalty, but it came as a result of Loftus-Cheek’s break and being brought down by Federico Fernandez. Before that, he curled a great shot just wide from the edge of the box on half an hour, after Zaha caught a defender in possession. He broke with purpose for the majority of the game, providing as much threat as both of the men in front of him. With Milivojevic and McArthur both starting, he was freed up from more defensive duties, which seemed to suit him.

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Andros Townsend - 7

Palace’s only ever present in the league this season, Townsend looked a threat for long periods in the game, although there was a slight shortage of end product. His looping long range effort after ten minutes forced keeper Lukasz Fabianski into an excellent fingertip save. He worked well with Zaha for the rest of the half, executing a plan of hitting the Welsh side on the break. He was unlucky not to get an assist before the break, setting up Zaha for a short he ending up taking at full stretch and missing. He made way for Patrick van Aanholt (5) with a few minutes to go, but little changed to stem the tide of Swansea’s strong end to the game.

Wilfried Zaha - 6

With all of the continual paper talk surrounding Zaha and the transfer window, Swansea’s fans were the latest in a long line of supporters giving him the pantomime villain treatment. It didn’t seem to affect him, but a string of fouls did seem to wind him up. His signature step-overs seemed to be read well by the Swansea defence and he got less balls in from the edge of the box than usual. Some of his passes were uncharacteristically off target; in particular he did the hard work in starting an excellent break, but failed to find Sako at the end of it for a one-on-one the Malian could well have converted. He’ll have much more enjoyable afternoons.