Palace can rest and recover if they beat West Brom says Townsend

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Andros Townsend reckons Crystal Palace will only be able to enjoy their lull in fixtures if they beat West Brom on Saturday.

The Eagles were on a three-game unbeaten run before Sunday’s 4-1 loss at Tottenham Hotspur.

The visit of Albion is the last action before the international break. Palace resume with a trip to Everton on April 3.

Asked if he will be able to relax and make the most of a spell of inactivity, winger Townsend told Palace TV: “It depends how that West Brom game goes.

“If we beat West Brom then you say: ‘Yeah, we’ve worked hard and got some good points over the last few weeks – let’s rest and recover’. Then we regroup and go again for the last nine games. We’ll need that rest because a lot of those matches are tough.”

Townsend felt the margin of last weekend’s defeat at his old club was harsh.

“Especially in the first half we defended very well,” he said. “Our attacking play wasn’t great but we somehow managed to score in the last minute and go in 1-1 at half time.

“We thought ‘make sure we’re hard to beat in the second half’ and we get hit with a suckerpunch. At 2-1, Wilf [Zaha] goes through on goal and somehow the ref gives a foul. [Harry] Kane goes straight down the other end and scores a worldie. We were undone by critical moments that didn’t go our way.

“When you’re playing against top teams and top strikers you get punished for any bad decision. We were punished on Sunday.”

Palace had kept clean sheets against Manchester United and Fulham prior to heading to north London.

“We do a lot of work on our defensive shape so that when you play against United and Spurs you are working off instinct,” said Townsend. “We defended very well for 90 minutes against Manchester United.

“Unfortunately when we go 2-1 down and you’re chasing the game – committing more men forward – we were caught on the counter.”