When Aaron Ramsdale swapped warming the bench at Arsenal for a relegation battle with Southampton, even the England goalkeeper couldn’t have imagined it would be this bad. Another defeat – a 15th in 19 Premier League games – was especially hard to take after Tyler Dibling had given them a surprise lead to end a four‑match wait to score a goal and their first under the new manager, Ivan Juric.
But while Ramsdale was angered by the decision not to disallow Trevoh Chalobah’s equaliser for a perceived push on the Southampton goalkeeper, it was only a string of fine saves that kept the scoreline respectable as Palace secured only a second home victory of the campaign thanks to Eberechi Eze’s brilliant winner.
That leaves Oliver Glasner’s side looking much more comfortable after their slow start to the season, whereas surpassing Derby’s Premier League record low points tally of 11 might be the limit to Juric’s ambitions for now.
While Southampton’s defensive issues under Russell Martin came to define their former manager’s reign, they have also struggled badly at the other end. Not since Joe Aribo’s goal in the 5-1 defeat by Chelsea at the start of December had they managed to add to their meagre tally of 11 goals in the Premier League – a run of almost 700 minutes.
In a bid to turn the tide Juric handed the giant striker Paul Onuachu his third successive start despite never having scored a league goal since joining almost two years ago, and made three changes from the Boxing Day defeat against West Ham, including a recall for Dibling.
But other than a second goal of the season for the teenager that caught the Palace defence napping, Southampton never really looked like coming back after falling behind to Eze’s excellent strike early in the second half.
Palace’s issues at home have been a growing concern for Glasner despite their improved fortunes of late that have enabled them to move away from the bottom three. Defeat here would have left them looking nervously over their shoulders again and the Palace manager was pleased with the way his side kept their composure in the absence of the suspended captain Marc Guéhi after falling behind.
“I could see that he was suffering,” he said of Eze’s barren run in front of goal, registering his first league goal since the start of September. “This will really help his confidence.”
While for much of the season Eze has struggled to replicate the form that earned him a call‑up to England’s Euro 2024 squad, Ismaïla Sarr has been key to Palace’s recent revival. The Senegal forward was in the thick of things from the start, pinching the ball from Nathan Wood and setting up Eze to shoot straight at Ramsdale. But the hosts had a wake-up call when Kyle Walker-Peters made progress down the left flank. He picked out Adam Armstrong, whose pass was turned in by Dibling from close range. James Bree then stung the gloves of Dean Henderson after more good work from Walker-Peters as Southampton and their supporters visibly grew in confidence.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Everton | 18 | -9 | 17 |
| 17 | Wolverhampton | 19 | -11 | 16 |
| 18 | Leicester | 19 | -20 | 14 |
| 19 | Ipswich | 18 | -17 | 12 |
| 20 | Southampton | 19 | -27 | 6 |
A few murmurs of discontent were beginning to creep through among the home fans when Jefferson Lerma drew Ramsdale into action again with a shot from the edge of the box. The Southampton goalkeeper did well to divert Sarr’s cross behind but then came the turning point.
Ramsdale felt that he had been impeded by Jean-Philippe Mateta when the resulting corner was headed in by Chalobah. The referee, Michael Salisbury, and VAR saw it differently, although Ramsdale may have had a point. “It’s very difficult to defend this situation when they are pushing your goalkeeper,” a frustrated Juric said. “But we have to do better from set-pieces.”
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
Ramsdale had to be alert to tip Sarr’s shot round the post before parrying Lerma’s acrobatic kick away to safety. Walker-Peters could count himself lucky that a goalbound shot from Daniel Muñoz came back off his heel as Palace sought to press home their dominance.
There was no doubting the quality of Eze’s first-time strike that gave them the lead seven minutes after the break when Southampton failed to clear a corner. Saints tried in vain to respond and it was Palace who came closest to extending their lead when Eze’s free-kick deflected narrowly over. Ramsdale was at full stretch to prevent Jan Bednarek from diverting Sarr’s cross into his own net on yet another afternoon he and his side will want to forget.
