Report & Highlights: Palace beaten away at Bournemouth

The Cherries were the dominant attacking force in the first-half but required a slice of luck with both of their goals, as Jefferson Lerma inadvertently diverted an early corner into his own goal and Junior Kroupi dispatched a contentious penalty.

Palace improved after the break, but a breakaway goal from Rayan put the Premier League contest to bed, with Ismaïla Sarr hitting the post for the luckless Eagles late on.

Summary:

• Five changes for Palace as Riad, Devenny, Lerma, Johnson and Strand Larsen all come in.
• 10 – Goal: Bournemouth score from a corner, Lerma inadvertently diverting in.
• 14: Evanilson seizes on a Palace error, but blazes over.
• 19: Rayan heads over from Jimenez’s delivery with Cherries on top in the early stages.
• 27: Henderson makes a low save from Tavernier as Palace forced to weather a storm.
• 32 – Goal: Bournemouth awarded a contentious penalty which Kroupi converts.
• HT: Bournemouth 2-0 Palace
• Glasner makes triple changes at the break: Mitchell, Wharton and Sarr all come on.
• 46: The Eagles begin the half brightly with Strand Larsen testing Petrovic.
• 59: Mitchell makes a vital tackle to deny Kroupi a clean shot at goal.
• 78 – Goal: Rayan clinches the contest for Bournemouth.
• 82: Mateta and Sarr both threaten in the closing stages.
• 89: Sarr hits the post from Wharton’s curling pass, before dragging an effort wide.
• FT: Bournemouth 3-0 Palace

Crystal Palace’s 54th game of the campaign – in what could be the club’s busiest-ever season, with 60 matches in total should they see their semi-final through against Shakhtar Donetsk – arrived just three days after their last in Poland, whilst Bournemouth had the benefit of 10 days’ rest since their previous Premier League fixture.

Perhaps with the second leg of their UEFA Conference League semi-final in mind, Oliver Glasner elected to make five changes to his Palace starting XI, with Chadi Riad, Justin Devenny, Jefferson Lerma, Brennan Johnson and Jørgen Strand Larsen starting and Chris Richards, Tyrick Mitchell, Adam Wharton, Ismaïla Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta on the bench.

However, when the first-half kicked off to fireworks, flamethrowers and the crash of heavy metal music, all the spark stemmed from Andoni Iraola’s side.

Renowned for their intensity, Bournemouth hemmed the Eagles in from the early stages, and took the lead after 10 minutes in fortuitous circumstances.

Winning a succession of corners, James Tavernier delivered towards the near post, Marcos Senesi made first contact to flick on, and Lerma – devoid of luck – nodded over his own goal-line, despite an impressive attempt to clear the ball away by Dean Henderson.

The lead gave Bournemouth enough early encouragement to go on and dominate the half, Palace not helping their own cause with some slack play in possession. Evanilson capitalised on one such error, but smashed a shot over on his weaker left foot.

The attacks kept on coming, with Bournemouth’s advanced full-backs Álex Jiménez and Adrien Truffert increasingly influential – the former produced a wonderful whipped delivery on the 20-minute mark which Rayan headed over.

All the sharpness in the first-half was from the Cherries, and they cut through again on 27 minutes, Tavernier’s low strike across goal kicked away by Henderson’s left boot.

But then, on half-an-hour, the game was taken away from Palace. Henderson initially claimed a corner, only for the ball to bounce down.

As he dove forwards to reclaim, he made the slightest of contacts with Senesi’s heel – scarcely sufficient contact to send the defender sprawling – but despite VAR checking the incident, the referee’s decision to award a penalty stood, and Junior Kroupi subsequently converted.

Palace did well to stay in the game until half-time, roared on by an ever-impressive travelling support – and three substitutions at half-time saw Mitchell, Wharton and Sarr all enter the fray.

The response to a chastening half was immediate as Palace’s early second-half passing proved crisper, sharper, and more productive – Strand Larsen testing Djordje Petrovic’s handling from Mitchell’s pull-back inside the opening seconds of the half.

It was certainly more of an even contest but Bournemouth continued to pose a threat on the counter, with only a fine block tackle from Mitchell on Kroupi denying the Cherries’ goalscorer a second on the afternoon.

But with the sting drawn from the early stages of the second-half, it was the hosts who got the crucial next goal, as substitute David Brooks played in Rayan to finish across Henderson and well and truly settle the contest.

There were late threatening moments from Mateta – who almost diverted Lerma’s flicked header in from close range – and Sarr, who Petrovic dispossessed impressively when clean through.

There Senegal forward would twice go close in the closing minutes, hitting the post first-time from Wharton’s curling pass and dragging a late shot wide from Devenny’s cute ball.

But the damage had earnestly been done in the first-half on the South Coast, and the points were Bournemouth’s – Palace left to look ahead to Thursday’s European return leg at Selhurst Park.

Bournemouth: Petrovic (GK), Jimenez, Hill, Senesi, Truffert, Scott, Adams (Christie, 70), Rayan (Adli, 86), Kroupi (Brooks, 70), Tavernier (Gannon-Doak, 86), Evanilson (Ünal, 80).

Subs: Mandas (GK), Smith, Diakité, Tóth, Gannon-Doak.

Palace: Henderson (GK), Canvot, Lacroix, Riad (Richards, 75), Muñoz (Mitchell, HT), Lerma, Kamada (Wharton, HT), Devenny, Johnson, Pino (Sarr, HT), Strand Larsen (Mateta, 65).

Subs: Benítez (GK), Matthews (GK), Clyne, Cardines.

As It Happened