C Palace 1 Watford 2: Are you watching, Roy?

Watford boss Quique Flores insists that Troy Deeney is good enough to warrant an England call-up following his brace against Crystal Palace.

Crystal Palace continued their winless Premier League run and stretched it to nine matches with a 2-1 defeat to Watford at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

That moment came with time running out at the end of the first half, Connor Wickham finally floating a quality ball into the box for Adebayor to head excellently past Heurelho Gomes to become the first Palace striker to score from open play all season.

“We made a slight error on the Watford victor”.

“It’s not just like a striker, his value for the collective, his work-rate, pressure, defending deep, interceptions… he’s a very important player for us”. Ultimately, the Spaniard was – as always – effusive in his praise, suggesting that his team would have a lot of “respect” for Palace when the sides meet on Saturday.

Despite a much better second half, the home side failed to capitalise on their dominance and paid the price as Deeney scored the winning goal in the 82nd minute, leaving a downbeat Alan Pardew hoping Adebayor’s first goal kick starts the forward’s scoring form. “He is a very important player for us”.

The result, leaving Palace without a league victory since December 19, extended Alan Pardew’s worst run since his appointment as Crystal Palace manager, and though he was pleased with their improved second-half performance, he labelled the opening 45 minutes the worst he had overseen. I’m going to side with the home team here though as I think Ighalo and Deeney will find a way to get a much needed win for the Hornets.

“I think he has an unbelievable personality”.

Ighalo was a marked man and was hardly given a breather by the Palace defenders but he hit the under of the Palace post in the 35th minute of the game.