A Team Called Palace: Four Matches That Secured Crystal Palace’s Survival | OneFootball

Crystal Palace 1-0 Chelsea: Selhurst Park – 29 March 2014

Crystal Palace’s first season back in the Premier League since 2005 was a scrap for survival. After a dreadful start under Ian Holloway, who left the club in October, Tony Pulis took charge and immediately steadied the ship, using his experience to grind out vital points.

By late March, however, Palace were still in danger, winless in five games and hovering just above the relegation zone. Cue a visit from José Mourinho’s title-chasing Chelsea who topped the league and were overwhelming favourites for the clash.

In the match, The Eagles showed defensive resilience. Eden Hazard, Fernando Torres, and Branislav Ivanović were all denied by a heroic Palace backline with wonderful saves from goalkeeper Julian Speroni.

Early in the second half, fortune shone on the home side, as a Joel Ward cross, intended for Joe Ledley, was inadvertently headed into the net by Chelsea captain John Terry for the game’s only goal.

While the season is often remembered for Palace’s incredible 3-3 comeback against Liverpool, which blew the Merseyside side’s title hopes, this victory over Chelsea was the spark that ignited their survival. It kick-started a remarkable run of five consecutive wins, confirming Crystal Palace’s safety and propelling them to an impressive 11th-place finish in their return to the big time.

Crystal Palace 2-1 Tottenham: Selhurst Park – 10 January 2015

For a team with such longevity in the Premier League, bad starts have been a recurring theme for Crystal Palace. Their second season back in the top flight began in chaos, with Tony Pulis departing just two days before the opener due to disagreements with the board. Neil Warnock was brought in, but by Christmas, Palace had only three wins from 18 games, leaving their survival hopes looking bleak.

Warnock was dismissed paving the way for Alan Pardew, a former Palace player, to return as manager in January. With little time to waste, the Pardew era got underway with a home fixture against Tottenham Hotspur.

Palace fell behind early in the second half when Harry Kane’s low drive gave Spurs the lead. However, the Eagles found a lifeline when Benjamin Stambouli fouled Joe Ledley in the box, Dwight Gayle stepped up and buried the penalty into the bottom corner of Hugo Lloris’s net.

Wilfried Zaha, back at Palace after a season at Manchester United, proved pivotal, with a dazzling run down the left turning Kyle Walker inside out – before the ball fell to Jason Puncheon who slotted home the winner.

The comeback victory ignited Pardew’s Crystal Palace revival, with three wins in his first four games turning the season around. The Eagles ultimately finished 10th – still tied as their highest Premier League finish – with an excellent second half of the season under Pardew’s leadership.

Crystal Palace 2-1 Stoke City: Selhurst Park – 17 May 2016

The 2015/2016 season remains the closest points-wise that Crystal Palace have come to relegation finishing in 15th position, just five ahead of relegated Newcastle.

Unlike the previous seasons, Palace’s survival was due to an excellent start picking up 31 points as 2015 came to a close, with nine wins in their first 19 games of the season.

2016, however, would be a disastrous calendar year with just two wins between January and May. Reaching the FA Cup final made it a little more tolerable, but the Eagles desperately needed points as the season wound down, meeting Stoke City at Selhurst Park in the season’s penultimate match.

Stoke took the lead in the 26th minute, as Charlie Adam’s low shot found its way past Wayne Hennessey. But in the second half, having seen limited game time throughout the season, Dwight Gayle stepped up, filling in for the injured Wilfried Zaha.

Gayle capitalised on a brilliant Yannick Bolasie run, curling a shot into the bottom corner to level the score, and just ten minutes later, Gayle sealed the win with a stunning free-kick, curling past Stoke keeper Jakob Haugaard to give Crystal Palace a 2-1 lead.

It was a difficult year for Palace having the worst form for the year out of all 92 Premier League and EFL clubs. But with such a bad record scrappy victories under pressure like this one against Stoke have been important to Crystal Palace’s Premiership longevity.

Crystal Palace 5-0 Aston Villa: Selhurst Park – 19 May 2024

With the arrival of the 2023/24 season, Crystal Palace marked an impressive 10 years in the Premier League. Over that decade, much had changed: Joel Ward was the sole survivor from the 2013/14 squad, Palace had yet to surpass their highest finish of 10th, and the club adapted its recruitment strategy to compete with rising rivals like Brighton and Brentford.

One constant, however, has been the “new manager bounce.” When Roy Hodgson replaced Patrick Vieira midway through the season, he immediately steered Palace away from danger. In February 2024, Hodgson stepped down, and Austrian coach Oliver Glasner took over with Palace in 15th, just five points above the relegation zone.

Glasner’s impact wasn’t as immediate, but he would lead Palace to six wins and a draw in their last seven games, including a stunning 5-0 thrashing of Aston Villa, who had already secured a top-four finish.

In that final game, Palace’s attacking trio of Michail Olise, Eberechi Eze, and Jean-Philippe Mateta were at their scintillating best. Mateta scored the club’s first-ever Premier League hat-trick at Selhurst Park, while Eze netted a brace, all five goals beautifully placed past World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez in the Villa goal.

The Eagles finished the season with their highest-ever points total and goal tally and matched their highest-ever 10th-place finish.

The ups and downs of the season marked another chapter in Palace’s long story with Premier League survival, but the changes made over the last few years hint at the dawn of a promising new era.