Slaven Bilic admits West Bromwich Albion could not deal with the twin threats of Wilfried Zaha and Ebere Eze as Crystal Palace cruised to a 5-1 Premier League win at The Hawthorns, as reported by Football London.
It is fair to say Roy Hodgson’s Palace would not be the first name on many pundit’s lips when asked to name the most watchable and entertaining sides in the division.
But with Zaha and Eze starting to form an understanding on the left-hand side of Crystal Palace’s suddenly enthralling attack, the Eagles might just have emerged as a team worth keeping an eye on.
Zaha and Eze were in imperious form as Crystal Palace hit five goals in an away Premier League game for the first time on Sunday, admittedly against a ten-man West Brom whose baffling naivety and lack of leadership, organisation and bite during a miserable second half would have had Bilic seething.
After forcing an own goal from Darnell Furlong, Zaha thumped home in stunning style to kick-start the rout after the interval.
The Ivory Coast international then took his tally to seven in nine league matches, stabbing home after a wonderous, weaving run from Man of the Match Eze.
“They have quality, we knew that, and our plan was to stop Zaha, Eze by doubling up. But allowing them one-on-one…after the second (goal) it wasn’t even one against one,” fumed Bilic, who was also far from happy with Matheus Pereira’s first-half red card.
“You can’t stop them getting close to your final third, but then you should have enough players to defend, but it was too easy. We didn’t mark, everyone went zonal.
“If you give them that much space, it’s up to them how many they are going to score.”
With the mesmeric Eze and the fleet-footed Zaha giving Palace some much-needed cutting edge in the final third, it is no coincidence that Christian Benteke has finally found some form.
The much-maligned centre-forward scored a Premier League brace on Sunday for the first time since a 2-1 win at Anfield in 2017; the last time Liverpool lost a home match in the division.
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