Three months on, the question remains much the same as far as Crystal Palace are concerned: how high can Roy Hodgson’s side fly? A comfortable victory courtesy of superbly taken first-half goals by Luka Milivojevic and Jordan Ayew lifted Palace above
Arsenal and to within four points of fifth-placed
Manchester United after carrying on where they left off to earn a fourth successive win. It was a remarkably efficient performance that made for entertaining primetime viewing – this was the first time the
BBC had screened a top-flight game since 1988 – but a worryingly stale Bournemouth were left nursing old scars after struggling to embrace the new normal.
Aside from some early invention by David Brooks, making his comeback from injury following almost a year out after two ankle operations, Bournemouth struggled to puncture Palace’s defence. But Brooks’s eagerness got the better of him when he fouled the advancing Wilfried Zaha, presenting Palace with an inviting opportunity 20 yards from goal. The manner in which Aaron Ramsdale, the Bournemouth goalkeeper, barked at his teammates to assemble a wall suggested he knew what was coming.