Crystal Palace embarrassed Leeds United at Elland Road on Sunday, winning 5-1 in what was billed as a relegation six-pointer.
Both teams sat precariously close to the bottom three heading into the game, but goals from Ebere Eze, Jordan Ayew, Odsonne Edouard and Marc Guehi ease Palace’s relegation concerns.
Leeds, on the other hand, now sit just two points outside of the drop zone heading into the final weeks of the Premier League season.
Roared on a by a raucous Elland Road crowd, Leeds started brightly and came within a whisker of opening the scoring inside the first five minutes. American international Brenden Aaronson would be the man who’d come close, seeing an audacious back heel effort from the near post area well saved by Sam Johnstone in the Palace goal.
The home side finally got their much deserved goal in the 20th minute through Patrick Bamford. The striker stole a march on his marker Tyrick Mitchell from a corner kick to brilliantly head home his 50th goal for the club.
Despite being second best, Palace really should have drawn level in the 25th minute. Jeffrey Schlupp found himself completely unmarked inside the six yard box from a corner kick, but could only find the foot of the post with his subsequent header.
Palace would cause Leeds even more problems from a set pieces 10 minutes later. This time it was Ayew who’d win a header from a corner kick – an effort which would slice narrowly wide of the foot of the post.
The next chance of the game would, again, come from a set piece. This time it was for Leeds as Aaronson’s free-kick delivery into the box was met well by Pascal Struijk, who saw his headed effort saved by Johnstone.
There was one final chance before the half-time whistle which (say the line Bart) came courtesy of a set piece. This time, the chance would result in an equalising goal for Palace, as Guehi latched onto a flick-on header from a set piece to flick home the ball and make it 1-1.
Palace started the second half with a real spring in their step, pressing forward and pinning Leeds back into their own defensive third. The visitors would make this pressure count in the 52nd minute when Michael Olise clipped a lovely ball into the box, where Ayew was on hand to cannon a header into the bottom left corner of the net.
Almost immediately from the resulting kick off, Palace doubled their lead. The third goal would come courtesy of yet another Olise assist, as the young wide player threaded a lovely ball through to Eze who was…
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