Crystal Palace had an awful start to the campaign that saw them making an early managerial change and setting two unwanted Premier League records – losing all of their opening seven games and also failing to even score a goal in them. A lot to do with this poor start to the season had the fact that the team’s big star and most important player Wilfried Zaha got injured in round 1 and he didn’t recover until mid-October.
Frank De Boer was given the job only in the summer, but after just 4 rounds he was sacked and Roy Hodgson was trusted to save the Eagles from what seemed inevitable relegation come September. Hodgson’s first three games in charge didn’t bring any improvement, but then Zaha returned for round 8 and it was his goal that brought the famous 2:1 win over Chelsea and put the first points on the board.
Palace enjoyed eight-game unbeaten run between rounds 12 and 19 and this was followed by a heroic 0:0 home draw against Man City on New Year’s Eve, which saw the Eagles welcoming 2018 just outside the relegation zone after being bottom for more than half of the time before that.
Benteke was a major disappointment in attack and he even lost his starting spot late in the season, while Zaha’s importance was undisputable as in February he got injured again and missed three games, with Palace losing them all. The defenders had strong periods mixed with poor displays, but the one constant and very influential performer was Luka Milivojevic. Despite playing as a holding midfielder, or even part of the back line at times, he scored 10 goals and the Serbian was not only in the top five in terms of successful tackles made and interceptions, but was also the best set piece taker in the Premier League at the end of the campaign.
It was exactly the contributions from Milivojevic and Zaha in key games during the second half of the season that saw Palace securing their safety with a game to spare. Ending the season on a run of four wins and two draws helped the Eagles to finish as high as they did, but up until round 37 they didn’t have guaranteed safety and it was another campaign that saw Palace narrowly avoiding the drop.
