Following Crystal Palace’s emphatic 3-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion, the Eagles have moved up to the heavy heights of 13th in the Premier League, and now looks odds on to keep their place in England’s top tier.
The Eagles gained promotion to the Premier League in May, following a play off final win against neighbours Watford.
But after a string of poor results at the start of the Premier League season, which left the Eagles rooted to the bottom of the table, and in a real negative position.
Ian Holloway resigned from the club following a hammering at home to London rivals Fulham, as the bookies were left slashing the odds on the clubs relegation, with a return to the Championship looking more likely as the weeks went on.
But when former Stoke City manager Tony Pulis wss appointed manager of the clubs, things took a real change for the better in Croydon.
The Welshman brought a fresh sense of pride at the club, and saw his side win their first game at home against fellow strugglers West Ham United.
The Eagles flew up the table following that win, and Pulis managed to grab a win against his former club, Stoke City, as Jason Puncheon scored the winner at Selhurst Park.
Puncheon has been superb this campaign after making his move from Southampton permanent in January, as Selhurst Park is becoming a real fortress once again.
Former Arsenal ‘flop’ Maroune Chamakh has also impressed after signing for Palace, and Dwight Gayle has been a revelation, and scored a superb sole goal in the impressive win away at Aston Villa last month.
Pulis has demonstrated that he is not a Metropolitan dinosaur incapable of managingin the big smoke, and looks set to go down in Palace history if he can keep the Eagles up.
January was also a superb month for Pulis, coupled with superb results in the League, Pulis also masterminded some superb transfers, many considered real coup’s for the club.
Pulis brought in Tom Ince from Blackpool on a loan deal, Joe Ledley from Celtic, Wayne Hennessey from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Scott Dann amongst others, with Ince the big name coming into Selhurst Park.
Pulis has also not just overhauled the squad as a whole, but changed the philosophy of the footballing tactics that Palace supporters had grown used to under Holloway.
Yes, the kick and rush game that his reputation percieves upon may still be in his footballing managerial DNA, however, the fresh outlook at Palace has been nothing short of a miracle in Croydon.
Many presumed that Ince would be joining a ‘bigger’ Premiership club, or AS Monaco, but instead he opted for the Eagles.
However, the highly rated England U21 International has settled right at home at the club, after opening the scoring in today’s win against West Bromwich.
Joe Ledley also scored on his debut in the rout of West Bromwich.
Pulis praised his three new signings in the win against West Bromwich, stating…..
I was really pleased with the three of them. It’s been really difficult this week as the lads have done so well since I’ve been here – to leave three of the lads out was difficult,” said Pulis.
“If we are going to stay in the Premier League, it’ll be the group of players. It won’t just be the 11 out there, it’ll be the whole group of players and they’ve been fantastic.
“I was really pleased to see (Ince) score that. It was a striker’s goal. He had a fantastic game along with the rest of them.”
Pulis saluted West Brom’s desire to go for the win at Selhurst Park, whilst thanking the Palace faithful who helped generate a boisterous atmosphere throughout the match.
“I thought the two teams had a go. It was windy and the pitch was dried out because of the wind, so it was a bit bobbly,” he said.
“But you can’t criticise both teams trying to win the game today.
“We told (Glenn Murray) to keep warming up every 15 minutes so that kept the crowd going. But they don’t need a lot to keep themselves going, this lot. They’ve been absolutely wonderful for us.”
By Ben Reardon
@BenReardon1
