Southampton denied again and Eberechi Eze seals Crystal Palace's comeback | first division

When Aaron Ramsdale swapped bench warming at Arsenal for a relegation battle with Southampton, not even the England goalkeeper could have imagined it would be so bad. Another defeat – their 15th in 19 Premier League games – was especially difficult to swallow after Tyler Dibling gave them a surprise lead to end a four-game wait for a goal and their first under the new manager, Ivan Juric.

But while Ramsdale were angered by the decision not to disallow Trevoh Chalobah's equalizer for an alleged push on the Southampton goalkeeper, it was only a series of excellent saves that kept the scoreline respectable as Palace secured just a second home win of the campaign thanks to Eberechi. Eze's brilliant winner.

That leaves Oliver Glasner's side looking much more comfortable after their slow start to the season, while surpassing Derby's Premier League record of 11 points could be the limit for Juric's ambitions for now.

While Southampton's defensive problems under Russell Martin came to define their former manager's reign, they have also struggled at the other end. Since Joe Aribo's goal in the 5-1 defeat to Chelsea at the start of December, they had failed to add to their meager Premier League goal tally of 11 – a run of almost 700 minutes.

In a bid to turn the tide, Juric gave giant striker Paul Onuachu his third consecutive start despite never scoring a league goal since arriving almost two years ago, and made three changes from Boxing's defeat Day against West Ham, including a Dibling withdrawal. .

But apart from a second goal of the season for the teenager that surprised the Palace defence, Southampton never looked like fighting back after falling behind to an excellent goal from Eze early in the second half.

Palace's problems at home have been a growing concern for Glasner despite their better luck of late which has seen them move away from the bottom three. A defeat here would have left them nervous again and the Palace manager was pleased with the way his team maintained their composure in the absence of suspended captain Marc Guéhi after falling behind.

“I realized he was suffering,” he said of Eze's fruitless run towards goal, scoring his first league goal since early September. “This will really help your confidence.”

While Eze has struggled for much of the season to replicate the form that earned him a call-up to the England squad for Euro 2024, Ismaïla Sarr has been key to Palace's recent resurgence. The Senegalese striker was at the center of the action from the start, pinching the ball from Nathan Wood and setting up Eze to fire straight at Ramsdale. But the hosts received a wake-up call when Kyle Walker-Peters advanced down the left flank. He picked out Adam Armstrong, whose pass was delivered by Dibling from close range. James Bree then stung the gloves of Dean Henderson after some good work from Walker-Peters as Southampton and their supporters visibly grew in confidence.