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How critical is Liverpool’s Mamadou Sakho to Crystal Palace’s hopes of survival?
Exiled from European-chasing Liverpool by Jurgen Klopp after being sent home from a pre-season tour, and with no competitive football played for months, it’s been some year for Mamadou Sakho.
Unable to make his return to the Liverpool first-team he is not part of the squad, Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce decided to make a late move for the 27-year-old defender during the January transfer window in a last-ditch bid to help the Eagles avoid the dreaded drop.
Yet even Big Sam couldn’t have predicted the immediate impact that the French international would have at Selhurst Park in the two matches since his inclusion in the Palace starting line-up.
Injury to Scott Dann had presented Sakho with the opportunity to impress at the heart of a leaky Palace defence, and that’s exactly what he’s done; two clean sheets in 25 Premier League matches prior to his debut, Palace have now doubled that tally with consecutive shut-outs in recent weeks.
Before his Crystal Palace debut against fellow relegation strugglers Middlesbrough ten days ago, Sakho hadn’t made a competitive appearance since Liverpool’s 4-0 victory over Merseyside rivals Everton back in April – yet he’s shown no signs of rustiness in his 180 minutes of football at Palace.
Critical back-to-back victories have come against Middlesbrough (1-0) and most recently West Brom (2-0), and it was against the Baggies this weekend that Sakho came in for a lot of praise for a solid, dependable performance against a side that had only lost three games prior to Saturday’s clash.
Sakho relished the physical encounter against the Baggies, utilising all of the strength and power in his 6ft 2in frame to keep the equally physical Salomon Rondon quiet all afternoon, winning almost 90% of the aerial duels that he faced at the Hawthorns as his side battled to victory.
Not only does Sakho bring 28 matches of international experience with France to Selhurst Park, but he has an innate ability to lead a back line – something Palace have been crying out for all season. He also displayed on Saturday his ability to drive with the ball out of defence, something that the likes of Scott Dann and James Tomkins don’t particularly dare to do. On more than one occasion at West Brom he put four men out of the game with a run full of intent, carrying the ball past the half-way line as he looked to get his side on the attack – it takes a certain amount of confidence to do this, and Sakho has it.
Yet alongside his disciplined side, the 26-year-old has still showed all of the flamboyance that has made him so exciting to watch in recent years; most notably tackling the referee against West Brom.
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Games against Chelsea, Southampton and Arsenal coming up in the next month will provide a true test of Sakho’s – and Palace’s – defensive progress, but for now things are looking bright in London.
Although it’s still a testing period of time at Selhurst Park as Crystal Palace sit precariously placed just three points above the relegation spots, if they are able to produce the great escape and secure Premier League survival this season they will be indebted to Sakho for the Frenchman’s impact.
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