Crystal Palace came from behind to win at Southampton and boost their hopes of a top-half finish in the Premier League.
Oriol Romeu headed the hosts into an early lead on the south coast from a James Ward-Prowse corner.
But Palace then dominated possession and equalised in the second half through Eberechi Eze’s first goal of the season.
Moments later they brought on top scorer Wilfried Zaha, who started on the bench in their only change to the side which drew 0-0 with Leeds last Monday.
And the Ivory Coast forward created a chance out of nothing to fire in a stoppage-time winner and send Palace up to 12th in the table.
With four games left to play the Eagles are two points behind 10th-placed Newcastle with a game in hand as they aim to secure their first top-half finish since 2014-15.
Zaha’s 13th goal in all competitions this season condemned Southampton to their sixth defeat in nine league games and saw them slip to 15th.
Southampton are also hoping for a rare top-half finish – their first since 2016-17 – and took an early lead from an inswinging corner by Ward-Prowse, with Romeu shrugging off James McArthur to head in off the underside of the crossbar.
But Palace then took charge, with Conor Gallagher sending an unmarked header wide from a Jeffrey Schlupp cross while Jean-Philippe Mateta was denied by Fraser Forster from Schlupp’s cutback.
The hosts were restricted to a long-range strike by Nathan Tella, saved low by Vicente Guaita, but Palace continued to press for an equaliser, with Jordan Ayew’s header parried by Forster, who comfortably saved McArthur’s header from the rebound.
The Eagles remained on top after the break, as Forster pushed out Ayew’s low cross as far as Schlupp, whose shot was blocked.
Palace’s more positive play was eventually rewarded as Ayew found Nathaniel Clyne on the overlap and the right-back chipped over a deep cross from the byeline for Eze to sweep the ball low past Forster.
Zaha came on moments later and it did not look as though he would get a chance to win the game for Palace, until captain McArthur fed him just outside the box with his back to goal.
The Eagles’ talisman still had plenty to do as he held off defender Jan Bednarek while making the space to turn and shoot into the bottom corner.
After a run of one point from their past three league games, either side of their FA Cup semi-final defeat by Chelsea, the Eagles are now firmly back in contention to end Patrick Vieira’s first season in charge in the top 10.
-BBC
