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da blaze casino： This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
Before Crystal Palace’s London derby against Tottenham kicked off, we detailed how Joel Ward had to come out on top in his individual battle against Heung-min Son.
The South Korean had previously netted in his last three home games against the Eagles – all of them coming in different stadiums – making him undoubtedly the south Londoners’ bogey player.
Ward had coped well with the pressure of replacing £50m man Aaron Wan-Bissaka before Saturday’s game, helping Palace to the best defensive record in the Premier League, with just two goals conceded.
However, Tottenham – and Son in particular – made a mockery of Roy Hodgson’s side, mainly Ward.
The right-back found himself way out of his depth against the former Bayer Leverkusen forward, and Palace were 4-0 down before the whistle for half-time had even sounded.
The 29-year-old cannot be solely blamed for what was a miserable team performance, but Son’s second goal and Erik Lamela’s strike came as a result of first-time finishes from the left of the box – an area that Ward should have patrolled more efficiently.
The former Portsmouth man failed to register a block, and also committed one foul against Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
Ward also had two unsuccessful touches and made just one tackle, which doesn’t reflect well on him seeing as the north Londoners were unrelenting in their attacking play.
The Eagles No.2 came out of the London derby with a measly 6.03 match rating from WhoScored, and it’s safe to say that he miserably failed in his individual battle against Son.
In fairness, the 27-year-old – who hit 12 league goals last year – is arguably one of the best forwards in the top-flight and a lot of right-backs would struggle to contend with him.
In Ward’s case, however, his lost battle proved all too costly for the south Londoners.