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Your support makes all the difference.Alan Pardew, the Crystal Palace manager, has backed goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey to shine for Wales at Euro 2016 and has revealed he now considers him to be Palace’s first-choice keeper.
In the final stages of Palace’s 1-0 Premier League defeat of Southampton on Saturday, Hennessey produced an exceptional save when Shane Long was through on goal, having previously kept the score at 0-0 in the first half when tipping over Steven Davis’s close-range header.
Hennessey, who also impressed in a hard-fought 1-1 at Everton last Monday night, only got his chance in the team due to injuries to Julian Speroni and Alex McCarthy; but with Palace now up to sixth in the table, he has made the starting place his own.
“The other two have been fit for a while,” Pardew said. “So [Hennessey’s] cemented his position with a couple of great performances this week. He’s very focused on the Euros at the end of the season for Wales. It’s a terrific week for him.
“We had a big debt to Wayne there, to just stand tall and stick a leg out and make it difficult for Shane Long. It was a scary moment, I have to say – I thought he was going to score. It was a shame because it was the only mistake the two centre-halves made all day; they both went for the same ball, they got beat in the air, and it was a one-on-one.”
The Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes has warned his team-mates not to grow complacent after a 1-0 win at Sunderland, their third victory in succession, moved them up seventh.
Quique Sanchez Flores’ side face a testing period over Christmas and New Year with games against Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City, and Gomes is adamant they cannot relax.
“The target is to finish as high as we can in the table as it’s not finished yet,” he said. “I know the Premier League is a tough league and you can’t sleep in any games.
“Of course, it’s a tough period coming up, but we’re going to go in with big confidence and we’re going to play with our heart like we are doing until now, and this is the most important thing. We need to focus on this period and recover as maximum as we can – and now we can start to think about the Liverpool game.”
Odion Ighalo got Watford’s winner at the Stadium of Light and Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce said the Nigerian’s attacking partnership with Troy Deeney was the main reason they would stay up.
“What [Watford] have done now is they are safe, they won’t go down,” Allardyce said. “Now the manager can tell you different – I’m telling you now they won’t go down, there’s no chance. If they have a bad run or not, they won’t get relegated on what they have achieved up to now, and I think it’s because the front two are so good.
“We should have put the points in the bag today. If we could have done, 12 points out of eight [games] and 15 points out of 16, we’d all be going home very happy today – and the difference is mega.”
Everton picked up their fourth draw in five Premier League games when they were held 1-1 at Norwich City, and manager Roberto Martinez believes they must learn to be more ruthless at both ends of the pitch.
“[The] team has to suffer and has to go through this period to realise all the good work that we do, all the expansive football that we play and the quality that we show needs to be backed up with a ruthless streak in front of goal,” Martinez said. “[We need to] make sure we don’t give an opportunity to the opposing teams to get back level. We’ve been very unfortunate and I think luck plays a big part in final results.
“The performances have been very consistent in the last three [games] and we feel we’ve dropped six points, which is an incredible gap in the table.”
Injury-hit West Ham United were content to take a point from a 0-0 home draw with Stoke City despite having the best of the chances. “I’m pleased on one hand, considering we are missing key offensive players, with the way we played,” said manager Slaven Bilic. “If you ask me before the game if I’m happy to take a point, then no. But considering the way the boys played, I can’t be unhappy.”
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