A 4-0 loss at the hands of Tottenham and their manager sent to the stands, things looked like they couldn’t get much for Stoke after last weekend. A visit to Selhurst Park could have been what the Potters needed to steady the ship and get back on track, or the fast track to relegation. But they seemed to take the adage ‘start as you mean to go on’ a little too much to heart.
Hughes opted for just two changes to the side that endured that heavy defeat at home last week. He brought both Bojan and Glen Johnson back into the side - with Giannelli Imbula and Erik Pieters making way. Meanwhile, Alan Pardew handed James Tomkins his first league start of the season.
It took just 9 minutes for things to unravel for the visitors. Tomkins got the slightest of touches on Andros Townsend’s free-kick to claim the opening goal. Two minutes later, things went from bad to worse as Palace’s other centre-back, Scott Dann, got in on the goalscoring action himself after getting on the end of a Jason Puncheon corner.
To say that Stoke remained on the back foot for the remainder of the first half would be an understatement. The Potters managed just 1 touch in Crystal Palace’s penalty area in the opening 45 minutes. Hughes would need to dig deep at the break if Stoke were going to take anything from this game. Indeed, they had never won a Premier League match in which they were two or more goals behind at half time.
Stoke started the second half with a lot more cohesion putting Palace’s goalscorers to work at the other end of the pitch, but once again they began to unravel and were penalised for it. James McArthur got in on the goalscoring action with a shot that took a slight deflection off of Cameron. Not to be outdone, Andros Townsend netted the most Townsend of goals as he cut inside to curl his shot into the far corner.
Townsend was tireless in attack today and his performance was more than deserving of his first goal for Crystal Palace. He marauded Stoke’s left flank keeping Johnson a lot busier than he was expecting. He struggled to contain him and in the 75th minute was punished with Palace’s fourth on the afternoon. It is only the third time that Palace have netted 4 or more at Selhurst Park in the Premier League.
While the home stands were bouncing, the away end looked bleak. The writing could be on the wall for Mark Hughes. They have already conceded 50 goals in 2016, more than any other team, and it’s not even October. They have some key players to return to fitness, such as Jack Butland and Xherdan Shaqiri, which could help, but if they keep shipping goals at this pace, it might be a matter of too little too late.
In his post match interview, Hughes acknowledged that the two early goals gave his side too much to do on the afternoon. It’s a pattern of their top-flight games as of late. Stoke have conceded the opening goal in each of their last 6 Premier League games. They have also conceded 4 goals in 3 of their last 4 league games. Next up for Stoke? Tony Pulis’ West Brom who just put 4 past West Ham this weekend and they haven’t won a game against West Brom in nearly 2 years.
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