Lukaku and Barkley owe Koeman a lot, Wilshere’s Bournemouth loan has proved a damp squib and Mignolet finally proving a positive game-changer for LiverpoolThe focus so often fixes upon Wilfried Zaha at Crystal Palace but over their seven-game revival under Sam Allardyce, they have posed as much threat from the opposite flank. Andros Townsend had rather grumbled through his first seven months at Selhurst Park, unhappy to be operating from the left and only offering flashes of his quality. The past seven weeks have been more reflective of a winger with 13 England caps. “Against Arsenal, Andros shut down three Arsenal players on his own, one after the other,” Allardyce said. “He ran from the right side to the left,...
The Palace manager usually promises solidity and some clubs set their sights higher but that snooty attitude can spell troubleQueuing up for some liquid refreshment at one of the country’s overcrowded beauty spots at the weekend, it was impossible not to overhear the excitable football chatter of a couple of Crystal Palace supporters nearing the bar.This was a day before the prodigious result against Arsenal, so the Palace pair were not enthusing about their best performance of the season, they were simply reassuring themselves that other results in the relegation zone were going their way and thanking their lucky stars they had Sam Allardyce piloting them up the table. Related: Arsenal’s latest bruising beating leaves Arsène Wenger at point of...
Frenchman’s side lose vital ground in battle for fourth on a night when they showed little appetite for the fight against opponents who scented bloodWhen Arsène Wenger drove into the Arsenal training ground last Tuesday he was greeted by a sight that spoke loudly on several levels: a grown man had put on the full Arsenal kit and was holding aloft a mock “fourth-place trophy”. It was yet another protest against Wenger’s regime.Never mind the ridicule, Wenger would gladly sign up for another fourth-place finish after what has been an impossibly stressful campaign. But the chances of that happening look increasingly slim. It was not only the scale of this defeat by Sam Allardyce’s resurgent Crystal Palace that sucked the...
Serbia international arrived at Selhurst Park only in January but robust skills already a bulwark in survival fightAs soon as Robert Prosinecki saw the commanding figure patrolling in front of FK Rad’s defence during a Serbian league match in 2011, he knew he had to get him. The former Croatia midfielder had been in charge of Red Star Belgrade – where he had made his name as a player during the late 1980s – for six months and was on the lookout for new recruits when he spotted Luka Milivojevic. “Prosinecki really wanted him. In the first meeting I remember him telling me Luka would be his captain,” recalls Ranko Stojic, a former Yugoslavia goalkeeper who was then Rad’s president. “He’s...
Everton and Romelu Lukaku get to shift their attention to the pitch, Liverpool face off with Manchester City, and Spurs look to push on without Harry KaneEverton-owned strikers will provide two causes for regret at Goodison Park on Saturday. Hull City miss Oumar Niasse, the on-loan centre-forward whose goals against Swansea City last week have made escaping the drop a realistic proposition, as he is ineligible to face the club that froze him out within months of arriving from Lokomotiv Moscow. That is poor timing as Marco Silva looks to create some momentum but Everton have concerns of their own. Romelu Lukaku and his family are hardly known for reticence but his clearly voiced concerns about the club’s ambition, hot...