Hughie gives his match verdict
I guess many may be saying “it was only Watford so let’s not get carried away.”
Fair enough but four goals against any team is always a huge confidence shot and that’s exactly what this team of ours needed today.
They also showed the ability to come back from an early goal and dominate a game against a side who frankly just don’t know how to defend.
In Jarrod Bowen and Mark Noble along with the rapidly improving Mikey Antonio we had three players in a different league to anybody on the Watford side.
The likes of Diop and that to a slightly lesser extent Dawson today showed that against a better team we would have had problems.
Palace will be a very different proposition on New Year’s Day after their comfortable win over Norwich City today but Declan will be back and that will put another 20 percent or more on what we saw today hopefully .
Mark Noble will rightly feel disappointed if – as one would expect – he returns to the bench but who makes way otherwise?
Good to see Benny’s game improve today and Manu Lanzini looks a fixture in a squad which is now back into fifth spot and still challenging.
The overwhelming feeling is one of relief after the Saints shambles and a result at Selhurst Park will set us up nicely for the second half of the season.
