Watford 1 Crystal Palace 4: Hornets’ Prem survival hopes take huge dent as Zaha makes old boss Hodgson suffer
ROY HODGSON rescued Crystal Palace once - but last night his old pal Wilfried Zaha dealt his survival hopes at Watford a potentially fatal blow.
The former Eagles boss relied heavily on Zaha when he orchestrated a great escape to help his boyhood club beat the drop in 2018.
But his trustee winger came back to haunt him with a killer double leaving the North Londoners four points adrift of safety.
The visitors were also helped by star loan signing Gallagher was back with a bang with a goal and an assist, having been ineligible to face his parent club last time out.
He has now hit a staggering eight goals and five assists in 25 appearances since his switch to Palace last July.
Zaha's double and Gallagher’s moment of magic came after Moussa Sissoko cancelled out Jean-Philippe Mateta’s opener to end the visitor’s woeful six match winless run.
Before the game Hodgson insisted he was unfazed by the claims that Palace are playing a more expansive brand of football since his departure last year.
But he certainly took notice last night as Patrick Vieira’s easy on the eye free-flowing approach paid off.
There was a penalty shout early on when Gallagher was taken out by Hassane Kamara, but referee Andre Marriner was having none of it.
The hosts hit back strongly with Ismaila Sarr charging down the right-flank and floating in a cross, but no one was there to make the crucial touch.
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Up until last night’s meeting, both sides had failed to score in the first half of a Prem game in 2022 - but Ben Foster made sure that came to an end.
The Hornets stopper managed to SLIP on a balloon that had floated onto the pitch when he tried to pop it.
That sparked shouts from the away end of “stick your f***ing Go Pro up your a***” which even Foster laughed at.
And Palace pounced on his lapse of concentration, Femenia poked Gallagher’s initial shot into the path of Jean-Philippe Mateta who swivelled then rifled home 15 minutes in.
Foster was left fuming with his defenders but they could have equally blasted him for freezing to the spot like a deer in headlights as Mateta’s effort sailed past him.
The Watford stopper was thanking his lucky stars that Sissoko was there at the other end to pick up the pieces just three minutes later.
Cameras zoomed into the Hornets skipper who had a glint in his eye as he waited for Kiko Femenia’s corner before rising highest to leather home a header.
Mateta broke free again up the other end but lost his footing and was unable to get his shot away.
Emmanuel Dennis then had a go with his noggin at the other end, but his header blazed over the bar.
Foster redeemed his earlier antics with a jaw-dropping save with his outstretched foot on a Michael Olise rasping effort.
But Palace weren’t letting up and redhot Gallagher unleashed a fierce drive into the top corner following Tyrick Mitchell’s looping cross on 42 minutes.
Mateta had a skip in his step after the restart and broke free before sweeping a menacing cross into the box, but Olise mistimed his run and couldn’t latch onto it.
Later on Olise then tried his luck from distance but Foster safely scooped it up.
Dennis muscled into the box at the other end but Joachim Andersen and Marc Guehi snaffled him up before he was able to cause any real danger.
There was a late flurry of chances for the home side with Samir grazing a header inches wide before Dennis missed a sitter smack bang in front of Butland.
The visitors then had an iron lock of the game and it was all thanks to Zaha.
The winger squeezed a shot past Foster after being teed up by Jordan Ayew on 84 minutes.
Moments later he shimmied beyond two defenders before curling into the far corner to wrap things up.
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