Rob Hutchison recovered from the London Branch 50th birthday party and then found something else to celebrate. Here are his one-word ratings from the Palace match (or mismatch if you like).
They’re a bit better than those we’ve become accustomed to and doesn’t it feel good that they are so well merited?
Vito 8 staunch
Kone 9 back!
O’Shea 8 strong
Jones 8 organised
Denayer 8 solid
Oviedo 9 DEFENDER!
Rodwell 8 dominant
N’Dong 9 mercurial
Larsson 8 grafted
Januzaj 8 sublime
Defoe 9 clinical
Gibson 8 unit
Pienaar 8 lively
Lescott 7 grand
Guest ratings . . . .
PVA 4 hilarious
Moyes 9 perfecto
Fans 10 legendary
What we need now is for some players to reach their potential in every game and produce this level of performance consistently. Ndong, Rodwell, Denayar, Januzaj can all be excellent and yet can all be ineffective on another day.
Allardyce?
Good to see something above a 5!