Crystal Palace’s Premier League struggles continued at Chelsea and they have not been helped by the form of Christian Benteke and Alexander Sorloth.
Crystal Palace certainly had their moments in Sunday’s London derby away at Chelsea. They caused Maurizio Sarri’s side plenty of problems in the first half, and scored arguably the goal of the game when Andros Townsend drilled home from a beautiful James McArthur flick.
But those familiar problems cost Palace dear at both ends of the pitch.
Roy Hodgson’s teams are usually well-drilled but the Eagles looked error-prone at the back throughout at Stamford Bridge, as they ended up on the wrong side of a 3-1 scoreline.
At the other end, Crystal Palace looked largely toothless in the absence of a top striker. Townsend and Wilfried Zaha were forced to lead the line with Christian Benteke, who has scored just three league goals since the start of last season, out injured and £9 million man Alexander Sorloth only trusted to start on the bench.
Speaking on 606 on BBC Radio 5 Live (4 November, 6:00pm), Chris Sutton has taken aim at Palace’s lack of attacking options.
“You look at the forward situation and that is not been good. January is huge for Crystal Palace. Townsend and Zaha are doing their best,” said Sutton, who played under Hodgson at Blackburn Rovers.
“The striker situation, they’ve let that fester. Benteke has been a disaster. And Sorloth, the fact that was on the bench tells you everything Roy Hodgson thinks about him.”
22-year-old Sorloth, a somewhat strange January signing from Midtjylland, is yet to score a single Premier League goal and all of his eight appearances this season have come from the bench.
With Benteke a shadow of his former self, Palace fans will not exactly be counting down the days until his return.
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