Crystal Palace 1-2 Swansea City
- Published
Alfie Mawson (right) scored his first goal for Swansea since a £5m transfer from Barnsley in August
Newly appointed Swansea boss Paul Clement watched his side gain a dramatic win against Crystal Palace to move off the bottom of the Premier League table.
Clement was appointed earlier on Tuesday, although first-team coach Alan Curtis had picked the team for the game at Selhurst Park.
Alfie Mawson headed Swansea ahead from Gylfi Sigurdsson's free-kick, before Wilfried Zaha volleyed an equaliser.
But substitute Angel Rangel collected Leroy Fer's pass to net a late winner.
The result means Palace have only picked up one point in the three games since Sam Allardyce replaced Alan Pardew as manager in December.
Plenty for Clement to be encouraged with
Paul Clement only lost seven of 33 games in a six-month spell in charge at Derby in 2015-16
Clement, a former Derby County boss, left his job as assistant manager at Bayern Munich to take over the Welsh side and said he was "excited" by the challenge.
He will also be delighted with and encouraged by his side's performance in a hard-fought victory.
They dominated the first half with Ki Sung-yueng shooting just wide and Fernando Llorente and Federico Fernandez heading narrowly off target before Mawson put Swansea ahead.
Clement began the game watching from the stands but later joined Curtis in the technical area to help guide Swansea to only their fourth league win of the season.
Another pleasing aspect for Clement will be the defensive performance. Centre-halves Mawson and Fernandez excelled, restricting Palace to only three shots on target.
A spectacular scissor kick from Zaha from 18 yards out looked to have denied Swansea before Rangel's first goal of the season, in the 88th minute, made it a perfect day for Clement.
The result takes Swansea above Hull up to 19th, only one point behind Crystal Palace in 17th.
Swansea have conceded more goals than any other Premier League team this season, but Crystal Palace could only manage one goal (football graphic), two other shots on target (green circles), two shots off target (red circles) and two attempts that were blocked (yellow circles)
Worrying times for Crystal Palace
This was Allardyce's first home game in charge of the Eagles and he will be disappointed with his side's efforts against a team that came into the game with one away win in the league all season.
To make things worse for Allardyce, he will be without Ivorian goalscorer Zaha and Malian second-half substitute Bakary Sako, who will both now go to the Africa Cup of Nations.
Wilfried Zaha has been involved in 10 Premier League goals in 2016-17 (four goals, six assists), but he will not be available to Palace for at least three weeks as he is on Africa Cup of Nations duty
Zaha has scored four goals this season, while Sako made an impact as a second-half substitute, forcing Lukasz Fabianski to tip a free-kick over, and causing the Swansea defence problems with his power.
Palace will also be hoping that a shoulder injury to top scorer Christian Benteke is not serious after he landed badly following a clash with Fabianski.
Allardyce was unhappy at two potential penalties that his side were denied - for Fabianski's challenge on Benteke and when Rangel appeared to handle the ball.
Man of the match - Alfie Mawson (Swansea)
Alfie Mawson (centre) scored Swansea's first goal and also made eight clearances, one tackle, one interception and blocked one shot
Stats - A good time for a rare Rangel goal
Swansea ended a run of eight away Premier League games (drew one, lost seven) without a win
Crystal Palace have now kept only one clean sheet in their last 25 Premier League games.
Alfie Mawson scored his first Premier League goal for Swansea in his 10th appearance for the club.
Only Hull (20) have conceded more goals from set pieces than Crystal Palace (17).
Since August 2014, only one Premier League midfielder (Sadio Mane - 43) has had a hand in more goals than Gylfi Sigurdsson (42 - 23 goals and 19 assists).
Sam Allardyce has lost his first home Premier League match as a boss for the very first time - he had previously won four and drawn one.
Angel Rangel ended a run of 95 Premier League matches without a goal by grabbing the winner - it was his first since May 2013 against Wigan.
What they said
Palace players are shattered - Allardyce
Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce: "The lack of energy the players had showed massively. We struggled to keep up with Swansea, we hadn't recovered properly. I should have made more changes but I still don't know the squad too well.
"The second half was ours, we saw a wonder goal from Wilfried Zaha that should have got us at least a point, but we switched off and it's massively disappointing.
"You can see it with your own eyes, you don't need to be a football manager. Some people say it's rubbish but it's not, the players were trying 100% but they were not physically able to reach their usual levels. They are shattered.
"It's beyond our control, certain elements. But we can defend better for the two goals and our first-half performance was nothing like I expect to see from my team."
Swansea showed real character - Curtis
Swansea first-team coach Alan Curtis: "It is a terrific result for us and a huge three points. The first-half performance, we were excellent and we could have gone in with more than the one goal.
"We have been accused of lacking character but we came back and won it and we deserved it. In training you see the players have the ability, it is just the confidence that has been lacking.
"Any team under Sam Allardyce will come on strongly, they have some terrific players. We had 24 hours more rest compared to them and that may have made a difference."
On the club's new manager Paul Clement, who joined Curtis in the technical area later in the match, he added: "He came down for some moral support, he made his presence felt at half-time, but there was not too much to say. We would have surprised a lot of people with our performance today."
What's next?
Paul Clement will take charge of a Swansea match for the first time when they play an FA Cup third round tie away at fellow Premier League strugglers Hull City on Saturday, 7 January (15:00 GMT). Crystal Palace are also in cup action at the same time, with an away game at League One side Bolton.
Both sides are next in Premier League action at 15:00 GMT on Saturday, 14 January. Palace play at West Ham with Swansea at home to Arsenal.
- Published3 January 2017
- Published4 January 2017
- Published27 December 2016
