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Crystal Palace 2017/18 Premier League season review

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson during the Premier League match against Liverpool at Selhurst Park

Read on for our review of their campaign, complete with the views of Soccer Saturday pundit Paul Merson.

Finishing position: 11th (+3)
Total points: 44 (+3)
FA Cup: Third round
Carabao Cup: Fourth round
Top scorer: Luka Milivojevic (10)

It has been a strange old season for Crystal Palace with Steve Parish's abortive attempts to change the team's style of play leading to a miserable start and a major scare under Frank de Boer before Roy Hodgson guided the Eagles to safety.

De Boer lost his first four Premier League games without scoring and perhaps Parish deserves credit for identifying his error so quickly. The sequence eventually extended to seven before Palace became the first Premier League team to survive such a bad start.

Wilfried Zaha's influence can hardly be overstated. Palace lost all 10 games in which he did not start but they were a different proposition with him in the team and with Hodgson bringing his usual organisational skills, a worrying season ended with a mid-table finish.

Best day of 2017/18

The 5-0 home win over Leicester in April all but secured safety - and in style. Palace completely outplayed the Foxes and with five different goalscorers it was a result that underlined the complete turnaround under Hodgson.

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Worst day of 2017/18

The 1-0 home defeat to Southampton in Hodgson's first game in charge back in September suggested that the new man would not be able to arrest the slide. Palace went on to lose the next two to the Manchester clubs and were pointless after seven games.

PAUL MERSON'S VERDICT

Managerial review

Unreal. I thought they were relegated. You have to praise Roy Hodgson, of course, but they owe a lot to Wilfried Zaha.

Player of year

Zaha, without a doubt. But Luka Milivojevic has been very good.

2018/19 prospects

It all depends on Zaha. If he goes, you're looking at another relegation battle. If he stays, you'd like to think they could be where Burnley are, fighting with Everton for seventh.

Sky Bet odds for relegation in 2018/19: 9/2

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