Crystal Palace 3-0 Norwich: Canaries' woes continue at Selhurst Park

Crystal Palace 3-0 Norwich: Canaries’ woes continue as Odsonne Edouard, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jeffrey Schlupp help Eagles to comfortable victory at Selhurst Park

  • Crystal Palace cruised to a comfortable victory over Norwich on Tuesday 
  • Odsonne Edouard found the net from the spot after Will Hughes was fouled
  • Jean-Philippe Mateta doubled the hosts’ lead with a clinical finish along the turf
  • Jeffrey Schlupp put the result beyond doubt with a rifled strike across goal 

The honeymoon period is over at Norwich. The once-loved ex, Daniel Farke, is gone and the new guy, Dean Smith, is trying his best but is it enough?

What a romantic marriage Smith and Norwich looked at the start, a win and two draws in his first three games. But what an ugly mess it’s been since, five straight defeats and 14 goals shipped.

Can they defend? No. Can they score goals? They can barely forge an attack.

Crystal Palace coasted past Premier League strugglers Norwich to get back to winning ways

Odsonne Edouard made no mistake from 12 yards to open the scoring for the south Londoners

The former Celtic striker wheels away in celebration after scoring the opening goal at Palace

The penalty was awarded after Will Hughes was fouled by Kenny McLean after eight minutes

Referee Paul Tierney explains his decision to Norwich City stars after awarding a spot kick

Crystal Palace (4-3-3): Guaita; Ward, Andersen (Tomkins, 83), Guehi, Mitchell; Schlupp, Kouyate, Hughes (Milivojevic, 73); Mateta (Benteke, 81), Edouard, Ayew

Subs: Butland, Ferguson, Kelly, Matthews, Riedewald

Scorer: Edouard (8), Mateta (38), Schlupp (42)

Booked: Edouard

Manager: Patrick Vieira

Norwich (4-3-3): Gunn; Giannoulis (Williams, 46), Sorensen, Gibson, Byram; McLean, Gilmour, Lees Melou; Placheta (Sargent, 81), Tzolis (Rowe, 68), Idah

Subs: Dowell, Kabak, McCracken, McGovern, Mumba 

Scorer: None

Booked: Gibson, Byram

Manager: Dean Smith 

They’ve have scored just one goal in their last seven games, and that was against Newcastle, the side who have conceded an all-time record 80 League goals in 2021.

A heavily-depleted Crystal Palace were the latest team to breeze aside Smith’s team, and they barely broke a sweat in the process.

The home side started without their three best players this season – Wilfried Zaha, Conor Gallagher and Christian Benteke – and boss Patrick Vieira was recovering at home with Covid.

Their absences were soon forgotten. Palace, with Welshman Osian Roberts in the dugout, raced into an early lead and were three up by half-time.

Odsonne Edouard opened the scoring after eight minutes from the spot after Will Hughes was felled by Kenny McLean. It was Edouard’s first goal in 11 matches and just his second since a debut brace against Tottenham.

But Norwich’s defence was an out-of-form striker’s dream. Edouard turned creator to set-up a goal for his French team-mate Jean-Phillipe Mateta, who hadn’t scored since February.

The versatile Jeffrey Schlupp, in a rare start, made it 3-0 minutes later.

In fairness, Norwich have a long – and growing – list of key men missing, starring names such as Teemu Pukki, Tim Krul, Grant Hanley, Mathias Normann and Max Aarons. None of the starting team or substitutes had scored a single League goal this season.

But Norwich looked like a team of eight-year-olds playing on a full-sized pitch – it seemed unimaginable that they could pass the ball all the way to the opponents’ goal.

It would be wrong to not praise Palace. They didn’t need to be great here but this was a potential banana skin noting the absentees.

Jean-Philippe Mateta doubled the lead with a clinical strike after Norwich wasted a chance

The Frenchman kicks the corner flag in celebration after piling misery on the visitors

Jeffrey Schlupp added a third just four minutes later with a thunderous finish beyond Gunn

The former Leicester City man holds his arms wide in celebration after scoring on Tuesday

It was another miserable afternoon for the travelling Canaries battling relegation this season

Dean Smith cuts a frustrated figure as his Norwich side fell to another defeat at Selhurst Park 

Edouard was in fine form and Hughes had his best game for the club. Perhaps Viera’s biggest legacy so far is making his team much more than a one-man band reliant on star man Zaha, this just their fourth win in the last 25 matches without the Ivorian.

Norwich were marginally better in the second half but still didn’t look like scoring. An brainless thug ran on the pitch from the away end and fans joked he was the Canaries’ man of the match.

In reality, that was either goalkeeper Angus Gunn, who kept the scores down with some fine saves, or Jonathan Rowe, the 18-year-old who made his senior debut off the bench and looked lively.

Maybe we will see more of him soon. Sadly for Norwich, that might just be in the Championship. 

Norwich owner Delia Smith watches on as her side’s struggles continued at Selhurst Park




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