SOUTHAMPTON, May 1 — Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha came off the bench and scored a last-gasp winner as they fought back from a goal down to snatch a 2-1 victory at Southampton in the Premier League yesterday.
With the game seemingly headed for a draw, Zaha latched onto a pass from James McArthur at the edge of the box in the second minute of stoppage time and spun away from Jan Bednarek before squeezing in a fine low finish.
Palace’s first win in four league games lifted them to 12th in the standings on 41 points, one ahead of 15th-placed Southampton.
“(Wilfried) has the ruthlessness to score when he can hit the target,” said Palace manager Patrick Vieira. “I felt we played really well today. We know how difficult it is to come here and perform.
“We played with a lot of confidence, belief, and we controlled the game. The players were rewarded with the goal we scored. We really went for that win.”
The hosts started brightly and took the lead through Oriol Romeu in the ninth minute when the Spaniard headed home from a James Ward-Prowse corner before Palace’s Conor Gallagher spurned a chance to equalise minutes later as he put his free header wide.
Eberechi Eze, who had looked threatening for Palace in the first half, levelled the match on the hour mark with a cushioned left-footed finish past Fraser Forster, who had palmed away a dangerous Jordan Ayew cross minutes earlier.
Southampton looked menacing from set-pieces but were restricted to shots from distance in open play as Palace grew into the game after the interval, with Vieira sending on Zaha and Michael Olise in search of a winner.
Vieira added: “I wasn’t expecting to have so much of the possession... in the first half, we were a little disappointed because we got into the good areas but didn’t make the right decisions.” — Reuters
