First the positive news for Crystal Palace. Oliver Glasner’s side are now 15 matches unbeaten in a run that stretches back to their 5-0 thrashing by Newcastle in mid-April. But having endured a dramatic end to the transfer window that saw chair Steve Parish pull the plug on captain Marc Guéhi’s move to Liverpool, Glasner was hoping for more from this meeting with promoted Sunderland.
While Guéhi was barely troubled as he eased back into his role on the left side of Palace’s three-man defence with the minimum of fuss, they deservedly left with a point after thriving in the role of spoilers.
Régis Le Bris had clearly done his homework as his side frustrated Palace and Robin Roefs was outstanding in goal for the visitors, who picked up their first point of the new campaign on the road and look a decent bet for survival on this evidence.
For Glasner, it was a disappointing result that will be tempered by encouraging performances from new signings Yéremy Pino and Christantus Uche, who both came close to making themselves instant heroes but couldn’t find a way past Roefs.
“I was very pleased with Pino’s performance but the cherry on top would have been a goal,” said the Palace manager, who felt his side should have had a penalty when Uche went down in the box late on. “I’m sure they will score many goals for us.”
