Crystal Palace 1-0 Southampton - 6 Things We Learned

4. Settled Back Four

One of the features of Palace's last few games has been their settled back four - they have used the same four players for every minute since the 2-1 victory over Liverpool. Even though the result against Sunderland was disappointing; not just because the team lost, but also because a mistake by the usually reliable Scott Dann spoiled what looked like being a certain clean sheet; the overall performance level has been superb. Palace have conceded only three goals in the last 360 minutes of football and since the 0-0 draw with Manchester United, Palace have fielded five defenders in the league and conceded only four in six. It's the settled nature of the defence, where every player is aware of their roles, that has allowed Palace to flourish this season. Especially as goals at the other end have been slightly harder to come by, even if they did beat Newcastle heavily.