Zaha influential in Crystal Palace’s 5-0 win against Leicester

The game started with Crystal Palace at 35 points and needing to beat Leicester to have a chance at survival in the relegation battle. The club has been lifted by Zaha’s return from injury who has been influential in some of their best performances ever since he rejoined the club from Manchester United. The Cote d’Ivoire forward opened the first goal of the game after receiving a brilliantly flicked pass from McArthur before slotting in the top right corner of the net. 1-0 up against Leicester at home, Palace were looking for the perfect night. But all this came after two chances that were cleared from the line by both teams. Iheanacho blocked Tomkin’s header for Palace while Joel Ward saved Vardy’s shot. Palace then gained control of the game and Zaha gave a slick through ball to McArthur who shot on the turn and watched his shot roll into the bottom left corner of the goal. That was it for the first half.

Marc Albrighton was sent off on the 56th minute for dragging down Zaha as the last man. The rest of the show was reserved for the last minutes of the match where Loftus-Cheek scored the third goal on the 81st as he beat the goalkeeper one-on-one after receiving a defense splitting pass from Mamadou Sakho. Patrick Van Aanholt scored the 4th of the night after Hamer’s failed attempt at clearing the ball gifted the Palace player the opportunity to curl into the bottom right corner. Benteke came off the bench to score a penalty after he was brought down in the penalty area by Maguire in stoppage time.