Wilfried Zaha urges Crystal Palace to be more ruthless following Everton draw

19 November 2017 13:24

Wilfried Zaha has called on Crystal Palace to develop a "clinical" streak after their inability to convert their dominance into victory in Saturday's 2-2 draw with Everton.

The two dropped points come after a period in which some felt they deserved draws in defeats away to Newcastle and Tottenham, and when they believed their home draw with West Ham should have been won.

That Everton were awarded a penalty when Oumar Niasse appeared to dive under minimal contact furthered Palace's frustration, and Zaha told the club's official website: "We battered them but we just have to be clinical.

"You can't play that well and not finish teams off. It feels like a game lost to me to be honest, but we will take a point.

"We shouldn't give the referee that opportunity to give them a penalty to be honest, it was definitely soft but we just have to carry on.

"The main thing is that we didn't lose because that would have killed a lot of people's confidence. Picking up points every game is going to be a big thing for us. We just need to move on to the next game."

Despite being the inferior team, Everton showed their resilience to twice recover from going behind - to goals from James McArthur and Zaha - to level through Leighton Baines' penalty and a finish from Niasse.

They also did so having won 3-2 against Watford in their last fixture, when they had trailed 2-0, and Gylfi Sigurdsson told the club's official website: "We've definitely got character in the team and fighting spirit.

"We showed that and against Watford but we need to start games better and maybe get the first goal. The confidence is coming back into the team and we know even if we go a goal down we're still going to be in the game.

"We weren't good enough at the start of the season but the players are determined to turn it around. The last few weeks we've been working hard. The target was to get a second win in a row but we're getting closer to where we should be.

"The gaffer (caretaker manager David Unsworth) has been doing really well. He's been getting us fitter and he's turning it around. It feels like the confidence is coming back.

"We won the last game and drew, so it's definitely better than how we were doing before.

"He's not just brought the fight, he's got us organised and he gets that across really well. He tells us that he has belief in us and we're good enough. We know that and we need to perform."

Source: PA