Premier League legend Henry impressed by Crystal Palace – but critical of Ayew’s big second-half moment

Premier League legend Thierry Henry has given his verdict on Jordan Ayew’s second-half miss in Crystal Palace’s 1-1 draw with Brighton last night.

The Eagles were ahead thanks to Wilfried Zaha’s penalty when Ayew fired wide of the right upright in the second period.

And Henry, a pundit on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, was adamant he should have squared the ball to an unmarked Christian Benteke.

“That’s the better option,” said the former Arsenal and French international. “You score, I come and celebrate with you – we do some somersault or whatever you want, we slide on our knees.

“If you don’t score, I would have killed you. Give me the ball….that is a sure goal.

“In that position, I’m thinking Benteke. This is where, in the Premier League, that’s a 2-0. Yes, he could have scored. But what about this [passing to Benteke], that’s 2-0 and we’re not talking anymore.”

But Henry, a former team-mate of Patrick Vieira for club and country, was impressed with the Eagles.

“I felt sorry for Patrick, I felt sorry for the Palace fans…Conor Gallagher should not be, at the end, on a team that didn’t win the game today. The Palace players should not be not on the winning side at the end.

“I liked Wilfried Zaha off the ball today. But in the Premier League you make one little mistake and they count and then it is 1-1.”

Jamie Carragher, also on punditry duty for the broadcaster, also had praise for Palace.

“This is the time time I’ve watched them over 90 minutes,” said the ex-Liverpool and England defender. “They were outstanding against Tottenham and they were very unlucky at Anfield. You look at that game and [Jurgen] Klopp’s comments after the game, he said it was one of the toughest three-nils that I’ve ever been involved in.

“They should possibly have got something from that game. They should have won this here tonight. I really liked watching them, I really did.

“There was a lot more energy and pressing [than last season]. Brighton are a really good team, let’s not forget that, and more often than not they will cause problems in midfield. I never saw that tonight. They [Palace] were always very compact and aggressive, first on the ball and making Brighton play back to the goalkeeper constantly.”