SK LOL : A birthday gift for Christian Benteke from Fraser Forster
Christian Benteke has been the saviour for Crystal Palace in their victories this season and he proved it yet again last evening why Alan Pardew was so intent on signing for such a huge fee. He scored a brace against Southampton to give the Londoners a much needed three points and hand the under-fire Pardew an appraisal after six consecutive defeats.
The game at Selhurst Park coincided with Benteke's birthday and Southampton custodian Fraser Forster gave him a beautiful birthday gift as the goalkeeper literally gifted him the first goal to slot home from point blank range. A howler led a Palace resurgence as until that mistake, Southampton were dominating the game and were favourites to break the deadlock.
The Saints were completely in control of the game as they were the passing around the ball well in their own half as Jose Fonte gave a simple sideways pass to his keeper to clear it with Benteke chasing the ball. Forster took a few steps to ready himself to clear the ball and took an almighty swing with his strong left foot. As (bad) luck would have it, the ball struck his right foot first and bobbled out of the way making the Southampton keeper look absolutely embarrassed. Christian Benteke will never score an easier goal than this in his entire career.
The second Palace goal also involved some luck as Jason Puncheon took a corner and it missed a number of bodies in the Southampton box and James Tomkins received it just to nudge it home. The Belgian towering striker then scored his second in stoppage time to enable his team to a convincing victory over a tough team which will improve the confidence and morale around the club.
After six consecutive defeats, Pardew was under immense pressure and there had been rumours of him being sacked if he fails to get the team back on track. He said, " Of course, I felt pressure. The pressure I have is because I want this team and myself to be successful. The supporters needed this victory to keep their belief in us. "
Christian Benteke did the job for him and Fraser Forster did make that a tad bit easier. This unbelievable howler from an otherwise brilliant goalkeeper is our SK Lol moment of the week.
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