Team Focus: Pulis Running a Tight Ship at Palace

Ten games into the season, 3 points gained and enduring the longest losing streak in Europe's top 5 leagues this season, there was little reason to believe that Crystal Palace's return to the top flight could become anything more than a failure, and it looked like it could go as badly as Derby's in 2007/08. Six games, a new manager and ten points later, the Eagles, who have already surpassed Derby's 11-point tally from 6 seasons ago, are daring to dream about what many had formerly thought was impossible. Against the odds, survival is now a possibility.

Palace fans could be forgiven for fearing the worst this season given that they only managed to finish fifth in the Championship last term, before losing top scorer Glenn Murray to an ACL injury during the playoff draw with Brighton and their biggest creative threat from last season, Wilfried Zaha, to the bright lights of Old Trafford. Quite what the fifth-best team in the Championship last season could offer in England's top tier without their best two attacking outlets was beyond the best of us, and then manager Ian Holloway was quickly out of ideas.

Holloway was dismissed in late October, and caretaker manager Keith Millen set about shoring up a defence that leaked 62 goals in 46 league games last term before worrying about where the goals would come from. Initially, at least, it seems to be working. In a run of games spanning the end of Millen's reign and the beginning of Tony Pulis', Palace conceded only 1 goal, and then against Chelsea at the weekend, they came closer to getting a result than anyone could honestly say they expected.

The Blues have only had fewer shots at home this season against Manchester City (12) and Aston Villa (15) than they did against Palace (16), and they rarely truly threatened Julian Speroni's goal. It certainly didn't look like title challengers hosting a team destined for relegation. The performance - and even the result - gave further reason for optimism, even though they conceded twice for the first time since the beginning of November.

The fact that Speroni was forced into 5 saves isn't indicative of how the match panned out; few of Chelsea's chances gave the Argentine much to worry about. Willian had an effort roll tamely into to the goalkeeper's arms and another shot from outside the box, while Ramires tested him from range before his goal but his first effort hardly threatened. Of course, they did twice break through the Palace defence, but the work of Palace's players without the ball played a huge part in restricting a team with a vast array of attacking talent.

Mile Jedinak and Kagisho Dikgacoi have struck up a formidable partnership in central midfield, but while the South Africa international is a real presence in the middle who aids in the breaking up and distribution of play, he hardly excels at either. He has no statistically calculated WhoScored strengths, but 4 weaknesses. It is Jedinak that is undeniably most important to the team.

The Australian is the epitome of an enforcing midfielder, and the stats he boasts suggest he is making up for any inadequacies of his midfield partner. Jedinak has made more interceptions (55) than any other player in the Premier League this season, and trails only Aaron Ramsey (64) and Claudio Yacob (61) for tackles made. In terms of the sum of the two (tackles + interceptions), Palace's captain is 19 ahead of any other player in the top flight.

It's not just on the ground that he wins the ball either, though. Only Christian Benteke (101) and 6'7" Peter Crouch have won more aerial battles this season (98) than 6 foot 2 Jedinak (81), with the top of those rankings otherwise wholly made up of centre-forwards and defenders. In fact, the Crystal Palace man has won a full 37 more headed duels than any other midfielder in the Premier League, doing so at an incredible success rate of 76.4%. That Crystal Palace rank in the top half of the table for shots conceded per game (12.9) is in no small part thanks to the input of Jedinak in front of the back four.

A sturdy defence has been the priority of late, and goals have continued to evade them under Pulis. He has reverted the team back to basics, playing a 4-4-2, with Cameron Jerome and the much maligned Marouane Chamakh forming a surprisingly complimentary partnership up front. The team are having more shots per game (11.9) than under Holloway (10.4), with the two combining to great effect. The Moroccan leads the club's goalscoring charts with 4 goals, a tally he has reached, incredibly, from just 5 shots on target. It may come as something of a surprise, but at present, Chamakh is one of the deadliest strikers in the Premier League.

Most of Chamakh's work comes in other realms of play, though. He ranks just behind teammate Jedinak for aerial duels won (80), while he has made over two-and-a-half times as many key passes (18) as he has had shots. He had become the butt of jokes at Arsenal, but is nothing less than a serious goal threat at Selhurst Park.

Palace have scored marginally fewer goals since Holloway has left, but the fact that they are conceding far fewer goals with Pulis at the helm means their lack of goals has less impact. When Holloway left after 8 games, only Sunderland (20) had shipped more goals this season than Palace (17), but in the 8 matches since then, only in-form Everton (5) have let in fewer goals than lowly Palace (7). 

Behind Jedinak there is a defence that is functioning effectively and efficiently under Pulis, with three of their regular back four following Jedinak in terms of WhoScored rating. The new manager is happy for his side to sit back and invite pressure, and his team have under his leadership been forced into a monstrous 50.6 clearances per game - a whole 12 more than any other team. Aerial dominance is an expected feature of a Tony Pulis side, but the extent to which his side have adhered to his philosophy and to such great effect, is testament to both the manager and the ability of his players.

Whether Palace can continue this run when they come up across stronger opposition than Pulis has so far remains to be seen. For the time being at least, though, the ingredients are present for their form and ascent up the table to continue.

Can Palace avoid the drop? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below