Palace punish 10-man West Brom with clinical victory

West Brom 1-5 Palace

Crystal Palace took advantage of 10-man West Bromwich Albion to thrash them 5-1 away.

It was the first time Palace have scored five goals on the road in the Premier League.

Wilfried Zaha, back after a two-game absence after testing positive for Covid-19, was instrumental in the eighth-minute opener.

He latched onto Luka Milivojevic’s quick free-kick to send in a dangerous cross that was turned into his own net by Darnell Furlong.

West Brom drew level on the half-hour mark after Conor Gallagher drove a low strike into the bottom corner.

The game’s turning point came four minutes later when the Baggies’ Matheus Pereira was shown a red card after he made contact with his studs on Patrick van Aanholt’s chest while on the ground. Referee Paul Tierney made his decision after consulting the pitch-side monitor.

Ten minutes after the break, Zaha restored Palace’s lead with a powerful strike off James McArthur’s feed.

Christian Benteke nabbed a rare goal to make it 3-1 with a low header from Patrick van Aanholt’s cut-back in the 55th minute.

Zaha fired home from close range for his second goal on 68 minutes after a driving run into the box from Eberechi Eze.

Then Benteke added another himself and Palace’s fifth of the day with a nice turn and finish inside the area.

West Brom: Johnstone, Furlong, Ivanovic, Bartley, Ajayi, Phillips, Diangana (Krovinovic 45), Gallagher, Sawyers (O’Shea 80), Pereira, Grant (Robinson 62).

Not used: Button, Gibbs, Grosicki, Austin.

Palace: Guaita, Van Aanholt, Kouyate, Cahill, Clyne, McArthur (Riedewald 72), Milivojevic, Schlupp (Ayew 74), Eze, Zaha (Batshuayi 81), Benteke.

Not used: Butland, Ward, Sakho, Townsend.