There was an air of inevitability that Danny Ings would strike against Roy Hodgson given that the Crystal Palace manager spent much of the buildup to this encounter highlighting the forward’s killer instincts. It was Hodgson who gave Ings his sole
England cap in Lithuania four years ago and the in-form striker, who netted his 12th goal of the season here, turned his nose up at a move to Palace in favour of a return to his boyhood club last year. Ings cancelled out James Tomkins’s header as Southampton rallied to take a point just as things seemed to be getting away from them against Palace, who had a first-half goal disallowed by VAR.
Pantomime season is in full swing and Wilfried Zaha relished the role of the villain but the opening stages were more slapstick than anything. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was patrolling the Southampton midfield with his back bare for a minute or two after tussles with Zaha and Luka Milivojevic left his shirt in tatters, flapping like a cape before a replacement was located. Zaha is Palace’s talisman and Southampton sought to stop him at source. When Moussa Djenepo entered midway through the second half, he, too, quickly assumed centre stage.