Southampton surrendered a first-half lead at Crystal Palace to lose 2-1, extending their winless run in the Premier League to nine games.
New Saints boss Ivan Juric, with back-to-back defeats in his first two games, faces a daunting task if he is to keep Southampton up – with no side in Premier League history avoiding relegation after taking only six points at the halfway stage in the season.
Southampton responded well to his pragmatic tweaks early on at Selhust Park, ending a run of four games in the league without a goal when Tyler Dibling opened the scoring after 14 minutes after a mazy run from Kyle Walker-Peters.
Tyler Dibling celebrates after giving Southampton the lead at Selhurst Park
Crystal Palace equalised from a corner after 31 minutes through Trevoh Chalobah’s header after surviving a VAR check, with Southampton feeling it should have been ruled out for a foul on Aaron Ramsdale by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Oliver Glasner, the Palace boss, said this decision was in keeping with the messages they received from officials before the season. “It is a foul all over Europe but not in the Premier League,” he said.
“If this goal had been disallowed there must be eight goals from Arsenal [that should be disallowed] or maybe you can remember the direct corner from Matheus Cunha where it’s one player in front of one and one in the back of the goalkeeper.
“This is what every team is doing. Everybody tries to use the rules for their advantage. This is what we are doing.”
Trevoh Chalobah heads in Crystal Palace’s equaliser against Southampton
Palace completed the turnaround in the second half when Eberechi Eze, with his first goal since October, scored from outside the box, helped by a deflection off Mateus Fernandes, to seal just their second home win of the season.
The visitors did not create enough to get back into the game and remain bottom, six points behind 19th-placed Ipswich, while Crystal Palace create a six-point cushion between themselves and the relegation zone.
Should VAR have disallowed Crystal Palace’s equaliser?
Southampton appealed to the officials to rule out Chalobah’s first-half header because Mateta had his arms on their goalkeeper Ramsdale when the delivery came in.
VAR had a look at the incident and upheld the on-field decision, which was to award the goal.
Southampton boss Juric and goalscorer Dibling both said after the game that they expected the goal to be overturned when the review was taking place.
There were similarities to high-profile incidents in recent weeks, both featuring Manchester United, where the officials have appeared to shown greater leniency towards contact between outfield players and goalkeepers.
Palace boss Glasner was, however, happy with the decision as he explained above.
Glasner: We should have decided the game earlier
Glasner felt his Palace side were wasteful in front of goal and failed to put the game to bed against Southampton, although he was happy they kept pushing for the winner.
“I’m very pleased with the win because everybody expected that we’ll win this game against Southampton at home and these games are the most difficult ones very often,” he said.
“We started well and all of a sudden we’re winding down, with the first situation in our box it just got more tricky, but the reaction was really brilliant from the team.
“We played forward, created chances, and we missed them also, but we kept the belief up.
“We were really dangerous with set-plays. We scored the two goals after set-plays and we could have decided the game a bit earlier but this is a story we had in many games this year.
“This is what we have to work on and try to improve. All the players are really working hard for it.”
Juric: It was a foul for their equaliser
Southampton boss Juric was disappointed with the way his side dealt with Palace’s aerial threat.
He said: “I think we started very well. I think the first goal, for me, it was a foul, and it’s very difficult to defend this kind of situation when they are pushing your goalkeeper, but first half, I think we can do it better on the second ball.
“They were better than us. In the second half, we did better in this kind of situation, and we dominated a little bit (of) the match.
“We lose two games, two set pieces. Second goal was, like West Ham, a complete disaster, but first goal, for me, was a foul.”
Asked if he expects it to be busy in the January transfer window, Juric added: “We are too many. If I understand well, we have to give players back or a loan and then decide to bring somebody.”
The damning Southampton stats
- Southampton have just six points after 19 Premier League games this season (W1 D3 L15) – at the halfway stage of a Premier League campaign, only Sunderland in 2005-06 (6) and Sheffield United in 2020-21 (5) have also ever had as few as six points.
- Southampton have conceded nine Premier League goals from corners this season, with only Wolves (10) conceding more.
- Southampton have gone 17 consecutive away top-flight games without a win for just the second time in their history, after a 19-game winless run between March 1985 and February 1986.
