Crystal Palace: The Premier League Team Who Are Better Away From Home

Wilfried Zaha scored 10 goals this season. Just one of them came at Selhurst Park. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Wilfried Zaha scored 10 goals this season. Just one of them came at Selhurst Park. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images
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Crystal Palace: The Premier League Team Who Are Better Away From Home

Wilfried Zaha scored 10 goals this season. Just one of them came at Selhurst Park. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Wilfried Zaha scored 10 goals this season. Just one of them came at Selhurst Park. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

When commentators describe Selhurst Park as “a fortress”, Crystal Palace fans start trembling. Lifelong fan, comedian and writer Kevin Day sums it up thus: “These days when people refer to ‘Fortress Selhurst’, you don’t know whether they are being ironic or not – there aren’t many fans who pray for an away draw in the FA Cup.” The ground may look like a fortress – it was built in 1925 and is crumbling like a medieval castle in places – but, unlike any other team in the Premier League this season, Palace picked up more points on their travels.

The raucous and united crowd at Palace played into the fortress analogy, but that has dissipated in the last few years as expectations have grown with each successive season in the top flight. Perhaps the club are victims of their own success, with a sense of ennui in the crowd creating an air of negativity at home games.

The difference between their results at home and away this season could hardly have been more stark. Palace won more games, scored more goals and picked up more points on their travels. Only Huddersfield, who lost 14 of their 19 games at the John Smith’s Stadium, picked up fewer points at home than Palace. At times it was difficult to watch at Selhurst Park. Palace didn’t score a goal in front of their own fans until the end of October and they didn’t win at home until December. They only scored 19 goals in their own ground all season – one per game – and five of them (26%) came in their 5-3 win over Bournemouth on the final day of the season.

Meanwhile, they were exceptional on their travels. They won nine of their away matches (as many as third-placed Chelsea) and scored 32 goals away from home (eight more than Chelsea). They were the only team to take a point at the Etihad – they took all three with a 3-2 win in December, embellished by Andros Townsend’s sumptuous strike – and they also won by the same scoreline at the Emirates, halting Arsenal’s run of 10 successive wins. Palace were the only team to score three at Anfield and, but for an uncharacteristically sloppy display by veteran keeper Julian Speroni, they would have won that game rather than losing it 4-3. By scoring nine goals at those three grounds, Palace account for 24% of the 38 goals Arsenal, City and Liverpool conceded at home this season.

This is not a new thing for Palace. They have finished higher in the away form table than in the home form table for the last five seasons. In fact, in three of the last four campaigns – 2015-16, 2016-17 and again this season – their home form has put them in the bottom three but their away displays have kept them up. The trend has continued under five managers – Neil Warnock, Alan Pardew, Sam Allardyce, Frank de Boer (who didn’t win at home or away) and now Hodgson.

Palace are set up to excel in away games, with a vibrant counter-attacking style that works best when home sides attack them and leave spaces at the back. With Wilfried Zaha on one flank and Yannick Bolasie initially and latterly Andros Townsend on the other, there is plenty of dynamic pace combined with ball-carrying skills to exploit the spaces created. However, at Selhurst Park most opponents sit back and stay compact in defense, denying Palace space to exploit on the counter.

Palace were chronically goal-shy in front of their own fans this season. Luka Milivojevic was their top scorer at home with seven goals and five of them were penalties. Zaha scored nine in away games but just one at Selhurst Park, where he is often double marked. Michy Batshuayi didn’t score at home until the final day of the season and the other strikers at the club – Christian Benteke, Conor Wickham and Jordan Ayew – did not score a solitary league goal at Selhurst between them.

When Hodgson took over last season after the calamitous but mercifully brief De Boer experiment, Palace took a few games to get going before sparking into life at Selhurst with a victory over reigning champions Chelsea. When they did click at home it was usually due to the combination of Yohan Cabaye, who could pick a pass, and loan signing Ruben Loftus-Cheek, whose forceful, strong running propelled the team forward.

However, Palace faltered at home this season partly due to Hodgson’s cautious pragmatism, which does not give the team an element of surprise or a high enough tempo when they are in possession. The midfield is a solid, compact unit blessed with ball-winners but it lacks a genuine creative force. Without a classic No 10, who can play between the lines and create chances, it is increasingly difficult to unpick opponents who set up two banks of defensive lines.

Of course, this criticism should be set against the success of securing another season in the Premier League. The club are now preparing for their seventh consecutive season in the top flight, their longest spell in the top tier in their history. That this great run has been achieved with such a poor home record is remarkable. Although, if Selhurst Park is to become “a difficult place to go” and a more enjoyable place to go for their own fans, Palace need a change of attitude, a change of approach and a new creative midfielder. The odd goal would not go amiss either.

(The Guardian)



Liverpool Boss Slot Says Isak in 'Final Stages of Rehab'

Soccer Football -  FA Cup - Fourth Round - Liverpool v Brighton & Hove Albion - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - February 14, 2026 Liverpool manager Arne Slot celebrates after the match REUTERS/Phil Noble
Soccer Football - FA Cup - Fourth Round - Liverpool v Brighton & Hove Albion - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - February 14, 2026 Liverpool manager Arne Slot celebrates after the match REUTERS/Phil Noble
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Liverpool Boss Slot Says Isak in 'Final Stages of Rehab'

Soccer Football -  FA Cup - Fourth Round - Liverpool v Brighton & Hove Albion - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - February 14, 2026 Liverpool manager Arne Slot celebrates after the match REUTERS/Phil Noble
Soccer Football - FA Cup - Fourth Round - Liverpool v Brighton & Hove Albion - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - February 14, 2026 Liverpool manager Arne Slot celebrates after the match REUTERS/Phil Noble

Liverpool manager Arne Slot said on Thursday he believes striker Alexander Isak is in the "final stages of rehab" and could return by the end of next month to bolster the Reds' push for Champions League qualification.

The British record signing has been sidelined since mid-December when he fractured a bone in his lower leg and needed ankle surgery following a sliding tackle from Tottenham's Micky van de Ven.

His injury came just as 26-year-old Sweden international Isak, who joined Premier League champions Liverpool for £125 million ($169 million) from top-flight rivals Newcastle in September, was finding his form at Anfield with two goals in six matches.

"Alex has been on the pitch, not with his football boots but with his running shoes for the first time this week," Slot told reporters, according to AFP.

"The next step is doing work with the ball, which every player likes most, then the next step is to come into the group and then it takes a while before you're ready to play.

"It will be some time around there, end of March, start of April, where he is hopefully back with the group. That is not to say you are ready to play, let alone start a game.

"But it's nice that rehab goes well; that's a compliment to him and our medical staff.

"I think we all know the moment you go on the pitch it doesn't take three months but these final stages of rehab can also make it change."

Isak is one of five Liverpool first-team players currently sidelined, with only Jeremie Frimpong close to a return.

The right-back has been out since the end of last month with a hamstring injury but is expected to be available for next weekend's visit of West Ham.

Liverpool have had a rare week without a match ahead of Sunday's trip to Nottingham Forest.

"It is nice and useful as the players we are having, nine out of 10 go to the national team so for seven, eight, nine months they hardly have a time off," said Dutch boss Slot, who insisted he had no need of a rest himself.

"It was nice but I did not really need it. Last season I felt I needed it more in this period of time. I am enjoying the work I do here."

Liverpool, after a slow start to their title defense -- are now sixth and within three points of the top four with 12 games to go.

They next play three of the bottom four clubs as they look to get themselves into a Champions League position.

Premier League leaders Arsenal were left just five points clear of second-placed Manchester City after blowing a two-goal lead in a shock 2-2 draw away to rock-bottom Wolves on Wednesday.

Slot, however, said: "We didn't need yesterday to know how difficult it is to win a Premier League game. What has made the Premier League nicer this season than three, four, five, six years ago is it's more competitive."


Familiar Face Returns to Marseille where Habib Beye Takes Charge

(FILES) Rennes' French-Senegalese head coach Habib Beye looks on before the French L1 football match between Le Havre AC (HAC) and Rennes at the Oceane Stadium in Le Havre, Northwestern France, on April 13, 2025. (Photo by Lou BENOIST / AFP)
(FILES) Rennes' French-Senegalese head coach Habib Beye looks on before the French L1 football match between Le Havre AC (HAC) and Rennes at the Oceane Stadium in Le Havre, Northwestern France, on April 13, 2025. (Photo by Lou BENOIST / AFP)
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Familiar Face Returns to Marseille where Habib Beye Takes Charge

(FILES) Rennes' French-Senegalese head coach Habib Beye looks on before the French L1 football match between Le Havre AC (HAC) and Rennes at the Oceane Stadium in Le Havre, Northwestern France, on April 13, 2025. (Photo by Lou BENOIST / AFP)
(FILES) Rennes' French-Senegalese head coach Habib Beye looks on before the French L1 football match between Le Havre AC (HAC) and Rennes at the Oceane Stadium in Le Havre, Northwestern France, on April 13, 2025. (Photo by Lou BENOIST / AFP)

Marseille is looking to reignite its season with a new coach on board.

The nine-time French champion appointed Habib Beye to replace Roberto De Zerbi following a bad patch of form that saw the club exit the Champions League and drop 12 points behind Ligue 1 leader Lens.

Beye, a former Senegal international who played for Marseille, will be in charge of Friday's trip to Brest.

After leading Red Star to promotion to Ligue 2, Beye spent the last year and a half as the Rennes coach. The club sacked Beye this month.

Key matchups Marseille has failed to win its past three league games, badly damaging its title hopes. The results including a 5-0 mauling at PSG have left fans fuming. The club hopes Beye, a disciplinarian advocating ball possession and a strong attacking identity, will produce a jolt.

Beye's hiring "refocuses us on the challenges we still need to tackle between now and the end of the season,” The Associated Press quoted Marseille owner Frank McCourt as saying.

Since McCourt bought Marseille in 2016, the former powerhouse has failed to find any form of stability in a succession of coaches and crises. It hasn’t won the league title since 2010.

PSG abandoned the top spot to Lens after losing to Rennes 3-1 last week. Luis Enrique's team bounced back with a 3-2 win at Monaco in the first leg of their Champions League playoff and hosts last-placed Metz on Saturday. Lens welcomes Monaco the same day.

Third-placed Lyon, on a stunning 13-match winning run, plays at Strasbourg on Sunday.
Players to watch With the World Cup in his country looming, former Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun is hitting form at the right time. The American forward scored twice inside 18 minutes against PSG and has 10 goals and four assists this season.

At PSG, the man in form is Désiré Doué.

After his team quickly fell behind by two goals against Monaco midweek, Doué came to the rescue to turn things around. The France international was relentless and left his mark on the match after coming on as a replacement for Ousmane Dembélé. He first reduced the deficit, played a role in Achraf Hakimi’s equalizer then netted the winner.
Out of action Dembélé is expected to miss PSG's match against Metz because of an injured left calf.

Off the field PSG was sanctioned with the partial closure of the Auteuil stand for two matches and a 10,000 euros ($11,800) fine by the disciplinary committee of the French league following banners displayed and insults directed by supporters during the match against Marseille on Feb. 8. at the Parc des Princes. There were brief discriminatory chants about Marseille at the start of the game and the referee stopped play for about one minute around the 70th.


Verona Prepares its Ancient Arena for the Olympics Closing Ceremony on Sunday

A view of the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
A view of the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
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Verona Prepares its Ancient Arena for the Olympics Closing Ceremony on Sunday

A view of the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
A view of the Arena ahead of the closing ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Verona, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A city forever associated with Romeo and Juliet, Verona will host the final act of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday inside the ancient Roman Arena, where some 1,500 athletes will celebrate their feats against a backdrop of Italian music and dance.

Acclaimed ballet dancer Roberto Bolle has been rehearsing for the closing ceremony inside the Arena di Verona this week under a veil of secrecy, along with some 350 volunteers, for a spectacle titled “Beauty in Motion," which frames beauty as something inherently dynamic.

“Beauty cannot be fixed in time. This ancient monument is beautiful if it is alive, if it continues to change,” said the ceremony's producer, Alfredo Accatino. “This is what we want to narrate: An Italy that is changing, and also the beauty of movement, the beauty of sport and the beauty of nature."

Other headlining Italian artists include singer Achille Lauro and DJ Gabry Ponte, whose hits could be heard blasting from the Arena during rehearsals this week.

Inside a tent serving as a dressing room, seamstresses put the finishing touches on costumes inspired by the opera world as volunteers prepped for the stage, The Associated Press reported.

“It’s really special to be inside the Arena,” said Matilde Ricchiuto, a student from a local dance school. "Usually, I am there as a spectator and now I get to be a star, I would say. I feel super special.”

The Arena has been a venue for popular entertainment since it was first built in 1 A.D., predating the larger Roman Colosseum by decades. Accatino said the ancient monument will produce some surprises from within its vast tunnels.

“Under the Arena there is a mysterious world that hides everything that has happened. At a certain point, this world will come out," Accatino said, promising “something very beautiful."

The ceremony will open with athletes parading triumphantly through Piazza Bra into the Arena, which once served as a stage for gladiator fights and hunts for exotic beasts.

The closing ceremony stage was inspired by a drop of water, meant to symbolically unite the Olympic mountain venues with the Po River Valley, where Milan and Verona are located, while serving as a reminder that the Winter Games are being reshaped by climate change.

While the opening ceremony was held in Milan, the other host city, Cortina d’Ampezzo, nestled in the Dolomite mountains, was considered too small and remote to host the closing ceremony. Verona, in the same Veneto region as Cortina, was chosen for its unique venue and relatively central location, said Maria Laura Iascone, the local organizing committee's head of ceremonies.

“Only Italians can use such monuments to do special events, so this is very unique, very rare," Iascone said of the Arena.

She promised a more intimate evening than the opening ceremony in Milan's San Siro soccer stadium, with about 12,000 people attending the closing compared with more than 60,000 for the opening.

Iascone said about 1,500 of the nearly 3,000 athletes participating in the most spread-out Winter Games in Olympic history are expected to drive a little over an hour from Milan and between two and four hours from the six mountain venues.

The ceremony will close with the Olympic flame being extinguished. A light show will substitute fireworks, which are not allowed in Verona to protect animals from being disturbed.

The Verona Arena will also be the venue for the Paralympic opening ceremony on March 6. For the ceremonies, the ancient Arena has been retrofitted with new wheelchair ramps and accessible restrooms along with other safety upgrades. The six Paralympic events will be held in Milan and Cortina until March 15.