Crystal Palace all but secured another season in the Premier League with a slender 1-0 win against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
A first half Luka Milivojevic penalty proved to be the difference between the two sides after Darnell Furlong handled the ball in the penalty area.
The Serbian midfielder was the match-winner, but Christian Benteke also stood tall as a huge reason behind Roy Hodgson’s Eagles sealing what is a huge victory in context of their campaign.
Following the Belgian’s goal in the 4-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, he put in another vital showing, albeit being more effective defensively against the Baggies.
Who was Crystal Palace’s Man of the Match against West Brom?
Luka Milivojevic
Gary Cahill
Gary Cahill
Anyone else?
According to WhoScored, the former Aston Villa and Liverpool man produced a huge seven clearances throughout the 90 minutes, with only Palace teammate Gary Cahill contributing more. He also won a massive 13 aerial challenges, proving to be an extremely physical and dominant presence in the Palace attack.
That saw the forward accumulate 51 touches of the ball throughout the 90 minutes, with only goalscorer Milivojevic and Patrick van Aanholt having more for the home side.
Benteke was also unfortunate not to get his name on the scoresheet once again. The £8.1m-rated forward fired in three shots throughout the match, getting two of them on target. As a matter of fact, he had as many shots at goal as the rest of the Palace team put together.
In all, it was a highly impressive performance from Benteke both going forwards and in defence.
Palace manager Roy Hodgson will hope to see more of those kind of displays for the remainder of the campaign, especially with the club’s place in the top flight all but confirmed ahead of 2021/22.
In more news, read why Palace should avoid making a permanent switch for Benteke’s international teammate Michy Batshuayi…