AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe was pleased that his side kept a clean sheet and remained unbeaten against a physical Crystal Palace side.
Ahead of this (Saturday) afternoon’s fixture, Crystal Palace had been outstanding away from home in the Premier League this season, they had the third best away record in the top flight with 5 wins from 8 games.
They also boast the second best defence, conceding just 7 goals in those games and are unbeaten in their last 3, including victories over Stoke and Liverpool.
Crystal Palace proved hard to break down and offered quality on the counter attack, but the Cherries still enjoyed the majority of possession and looked the more likely to claim all three points as the Cherries prevented the visitors from creating a single attempt on target.
The Cherries best chances came in either half when Matt Ritchie missed with a header before Glenn Murray couldn’t generate any power behind his effort against his former side.
Howe told the BBC…
‘It was a real battle, Palace are a very good side, very physical and we certainly knew we were in a game. But the most pleasing aspect from my perspective was the way we fought and defended set plays, with the aerial threat they’ve got.
‘We’re harder to beat now, that’s six games unbeaten, confidence is improving and belief is growing. We probably created the best chances but didn’t take them. We’re now moving into a tough period when we know we’ll have to be even better.’
Your Say…
billythekid…
We Had The Better Chances
Glenn Murray known for putting the ball away in the goal area should have put away a great opportunity set up nicely for him by Dan Gosling after some good work, but Murray fluffed his shot and it went straight to the keeper with little pace behind it.
We had 4 attempts on target, they didn’t have any on target.
We are normally the side that dominates the opening period but today it was Palace.
Overall probably a fair result but we could so easily have nicked 3 points if we took our chances.
Thought O’Kane who replaced Arter had a good game as did Rantie when he came on for Murray. – Join the conversation here.
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