West Brom 1-5 Crystal Palace: Wilfred Zaha and Christian Benteke punish 10-man Baggies

West Brom are the first team to score an own goal and receive a red card in the first half of a Premier League game since Tottenham at West Ham in May 2014

Wilfred Zaha again underlined his importance to Crystal Palace as they took advantage of the controversial dismissal of Matheus Pereira to claim their first points in three games with a rout at West Brom.

Forward Zaha had missed Palace’s previous two matches – both of which ended in defeat – after testing positive for Covid-19 but quickly found his feet again at The Hawthorns with a typically lively attacking display that included two goals and an assist.

It was from his low cross that Darnell Furlong diverted the ball into his own net to give the visitors the lead and his whipped finish into the far corner that restored the advantage after Conor Gallagher’s low, driven equaliser.

Between these two Zaha contributions, though, came the incident that completely altered the complexion of the game – Pereira’s red card.

It seemed unclear, even after multiple replays, whether the Baggies forward intended his boot to make contact with Patrick van Aanholt’s midriff while on the ground, but referee Paul Tierney had no doubt after viewing the incident on the pitch-side monitor.

Prior to that, Albion had been the better side with momentum behind them after Gallagher’s leveller, which came shortly after Furlong had gone close to making amends for his own goal with a header that came back off the bar.

But holding out for almost an hour with 10 men proved impossible, and Zaha sparked a Palace goal-fest.

Christian Benteke headed the first of his two goals of the afternoon from a Van Aanholt cross just four minutes after his strike-partner’s fine finish.

Zaha was on hand again to tap in from close range to make it 4-1 following a driving run into the box from Eberechi Eze before Benteke added the icing with a lovely finish on the turn.

It is the first time Palace have scored five away from home in a top-flight game and lifts them to 11th in the table, three points off the top four.

West Brom remain in the bottom three.

Zaha remains Palace’s main man

Roy Hodgson claimed before the season started that this was the strongest squad he has had at his disposal during his time at Crystal Palace.

But Zaha remains the key man.

You need only look at their record without him in Premier League games – just two wins from their past 17.

They were limp and unthreatening in their recent defeats by Burnley and Newcastle as their talismanic forward self-isolated, but were immediately reinvigorated here by his presence.

He inevitably benefited from the extra space afforded him following Pereira’s red card, but even before that he was an uncontainable menace to the Baggies, forcing Darnell into his costly evasive action as he tried to clear his dangerous early cross.

He has now scored or assisted 10 of Palace’s 16 goals this season. No wonder Hodgson opted to take him off with 10 minutes remaining and the game won.

That left Benteke to claim the limelight with a second goal, meaning in this one game alone he has matched his scoring tally for last season and doubled that of the season before.

It was a tough afternoon for Slaven Bilic’s side, who have now conceded a league-high 23 goals this season.

Bilic can take some heart from the way his side played with 11 men, but will be worried by the manner in which they utterly capitulated with 10.

Hodgson returns to haunt another old club – the stats

Roy Hodgson has won 11 Premier League matches against teams he’s previously managed in the division – no manager has won more such matches (Harry Redknapp and Sam Allardyce also have 11 wins vs former clubs).

Since the start of the 2012-13 season, only Olivier Giroud (31) has scored more headed Premier League goals than Christian Benteke (27).

Conor Gallagher (20 years and 304 days) became the youngest player to score in consecutive Premier League games for West Brom since Saido Berahino in January 2014 (20 years 150 days).

Matheus Pereira’s straight red card for West Brom makes it 12 of 13 red cards this season that have been straight dismissals (92%) – last season, only 57% of red cards in the Premier League were for straight red cards (25/44).

Wilfried Zaha has scored seven goals in nine Premier League games for Crystal Palace this season – Zaha’s previous seven goals came over 49 appearances.

West Brom became the first team to score an own goal and receive a red card in the first half of a Premier League game since Spurs at West Ham in May 2014, and the first to do so in a home game since Bolton Wanderers vs Leicester in December 2001.

Darnell Furlong became the first player to score an own goal and register an assist in a Premier League game since Denis Odoi for Fulham against Burnley in January 2019.

Among the 18 teams who have a had player sent off in at least 30 Premier League games, West Brom have lost the highest percentages of those games, losing 21 of the 31 games when receiving a red card (68%).

Player of the match

ZahaWilfried Zaha

West Bromwich Albion

Squad number18Player nameGallagher

Squad number1Player nameJohnstone

Squad number20Player nameIvanovic

Squad number6Player nameAjayi

Squad number10Player namePhillips

Squad number19Player nameSawyers

Squad number5Player nameBartley

Squad number2Player nameFurlong

Squad number11Player nameDiangana

Squad number27Player nameO’Shea

Squad number12Player nameMatheus Pereira

Squad number29Player nameGrant

Squad number7Player nameRobinson

Squad number17Player nameKrovinovic

Crystal Palace

Squad number11Player nameZaha

Squad number20Player nameBenteke

Squad number25Player nameEze

Squad number17Player nameClyne

Squad number24Player nameCahill

Squad number18Player nameMcArthur

Squad number15Player nameSchlupp

Squad number31Player nameGuaita

Squad number8Player nameKouyaté

Squad number3Player namevan Aanholt

Squad number4Player nameMilivojevic

Squad number9Player nameJ Ayew

Squad number44Player nameRiedewald

Squad number23Player nameBatshuayi

Line-ups West Brom

1Johnstone

6Ajayi

20Ivanovic

5Bartley

2Furlong

19SawyersBooked at 17mins Substituted forO’Sheaat 80’minutes

18GallagherBooked at 58mins

10Phillips

12Costa PereiraBooked at 34mins

11Diangana Substituted forKrovinovicat 45’minutes

29Grant Substituted forRobinsonat 62’minutes

Substitutes

3Gibbs

7Robinson

13Grosicki

15Austin

17Krovinovic

25Button

27O’Shea

Crystal Palace

31Guaita

17Clyne

8Kouyaté

24Cahill

3van Aanholt

15Schlupp Substituted forJ Ayewat 74’minutes

4MilivojevicBooked at 88mins

18McArthurBooked at 49mins Substituted forRiedewaldat 73’minutes

25Eze

20Benteke

11Zaha Substituted forBatshuayiat 81’minutes

Substitutes

1Butland

2Ward

9J Ayew

10Townsend

12Sakho

23Batshuayi

44Riedewald

Live Text

Match ends, West Bromwich Albion 1, Crystal Palace 5.

90’+4′

Second Half ends, West Bromwich Albion 1, Crystal Palace 5.

90’+3′

Attempt missed. Kyle Bartley (West Bromwich Albion) header from very close range misses to the left. Assisted by Matt Phillips with a cross following a corner.

90’+2′

Corner, West Bromwich Albion. Conceded by Cheikhou Kouyaté.

89′

Foul by Christian Benteke (Crystal Palace).

89′

Kyle Bartley (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

88′

Luka Milivojevic (Crystal Palace) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

88′

Foul by Luka Milivojevic (Crystal Palace).

88′

Matt Phillips (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

87′

Foul by Jairo Riedewald (Crystal Palace).

87′

Conor Gallagher (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick on the left wing.

84′

Attempt missed. Filip Krovinovic (West Bromwich Albion) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Dara O’Shea.

82′

Goal! West Bromwich Albion 1, Crystal Palace 5. Christian Benteke (Crystal Palace) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Nathaniel Clyne.

81′

Substitution, Crystal Palace. Michy Batshuayi replaces Wilfried Zaha.

80′

Substitution, West Bromwich Albion. Dara O’Shea replaces Romaine Sawyers.

80′

Attempt missed. Filip Krovinovic (West Bromwich Albion) right footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses the top right corner. Assisted by Matt Phillips.

74′

Substitution, Crystal Palace. Jordan Ayew replaces Jeffrey Schlupp.

74′

Foul by Luka Milivojevic (Crystal Palace).

74′

Conor Gallagher (West Bromwich Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

73′

Substitution, Crystal Palace. Jairo Riedewald replaces James McArthur.