Wilfried Zaha shocks Southampton with last-gasp winner

The home crowd was so shocked that you could almost hear the net ripple when Wilfried Zaha scored a 92nd-minute winner to end the Eagles’ barren run of four games without a win.

The Ivory Coast international, who came off the bench after 64 minutes, received the ball from James McArthur on the edge of the box, swivelled and picked out the bottom corner with a perfectly-executed move and strike.

Oriol Romeu had given Southampton the lead before Ebere Eze cancelled it out in the second-half.

And after pegging Brighton & Hove Albion back from 2-0 goals down this time the Saints got a taste of their own medicine.

The difference between Southampton and Crystal Palace in the first-half lay in the hosts taking their chances while Patrick Vieira’s men didn’t, despite creating some really scorable chances.

Oriol Romeu’s headed finish gave Saints a 9th-minute lead while Conor Gallagher nodded wide from Jeffrey Schlupp’s cross just eight minutes later.

Ex-Chelsea midfielder Romeu who came close to scoring at Brighton last Sunday and set up James Ward-Prowse with a lovely backheel flick, scored himself this time.

Guaita could only push his header on to the inside of the crossbar and Ralph Hasenhuttl was punching the air as it has become rare these days that Saints score first in a game.

This provoked a reaction from the visitors but Gallagher, who has not looked himself in recent weeks, sent a header wide.

Southampton, who showed great character in recovering from 2-0 down at Brighton last Sunday, displayed a huge amount of confidence which was reflected in their fluency and movement on and off the ball in the early stages.

But for all Saints’ possession it was again Palace who registered a shot on goal. This time Jean-Philippe Mateta was denied by Fraser Forster’s excellent near-post save with his right foot.

The Frenchman also scuffed a shot on the turn on 34 minutes. Palace improved their quality on the ball and Forster was called into action again to punch Andre Ayew’s header which was heading for the top corner.

Both sides had a flurry of chances and Che Adams did well to hold off a challenge from a Palace defender but his effort on the turn lacked the power to trouble Vicente Guaita.

But on the hour-mark Ghana international Ayew served Nathaniel Clyne on the overlap and the ex-Liverpool man unerringly picked out Eze, who left in acres of space, made no mistake by firing through Forster’s legs and into back of the net.

It was the former QPR star’s first goal of the season in 13 appearances across all competitions.

Armstrong drilled a lot shot wide from edge box1

Not content with one point, Zaha received a good ball from McCarthur and after holding off a good challenge from Jan Bednarek he fired an unstoppable drive into the bottom far corner.

Job done in emphatic style by the Eagles and the three points, are more than deserved after a dazzling second-half display.

Southampton FC

44 Fraser Forster- 2 Kyle Walkers-Peters- 6 Oriol Romeu- 7 Shane Long- 8 James Ward-Prowse- 10 Che Adams- 11 Nathan Redmond- 15 Romain Perraud- 22 Mohammed Salisu- 23 Nathan Tella- 35 Jan Bednarek

Crystal Palace

13 Vicente Guaita- 2 Joel Ward- 6 Marc Guehi- 9 Jordan Ayew- 10 Eberechi Eze- 14 Jean-Philippe Mateta- 15 Jeffrey Schlupp- 16 Joachim Andersen- 17 Nathaniel Clyne- 18 James McArthur- 23 Conor Gallagher