James Tomkins turned in a brilliant performance as Crystal Palace drew with Southampton on Saturday.
On the chalkboard
The central defender was paired with Mamadou Sakho at the heart of the backline and was a standout performer for the Eagles.
Not only did he score Palace’s goal, thumping home a superb header from a Luka Milivojevic free-kick, but he was also absolutely dominant in defence.
Did he really play for us?! No Palace fan has managed to name all of these obscure Eagles signings….
Per WhoScored, he had 51 touches of the ball, won one tackle, made 12 clearances and also made one interception.
In addition to that, the 30-year-old also won seven aerial duels, never once being beaten in the air. No player on the pitch was better when it came to that stat.
While he could have been deemed at fault for Danny Ings’ goal, he was sold mightily short by Martin Kelly’s almost suicidal pass and left scrambling to get back. Of the two, it was the right-back who made the mistake.
Let down
While Tomkins was excellent on the whole, the same cannot be said for the three defenders he was playing with.
Kelly, of course, was at fault for Ings’ equaliser, while Sakho failed to win a tackle and only managed to win one aerial duel.
Jairo Riedewald, playing out of position at left-back, also made just one tackle.
The highest-rated of the three – according to Whoscored – playing alongside Tomkins was Sakho, with 6.5. That isn’t really good enough.
As the season progresses and Palace prepare for games against Norwich City, Arsenal and Manchester City at the start of 2020, Tomkins’ team-mates need to start following his lead or the Eagles could well be in trouble.
Meanwhile, Palace fans have hailed one man.
