Three things we learnt from Sunderland’s humiliation of relegation rivals Crystal Palace

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Palace need to find an answer to their goal drought fast

Sam Allardyce’s side simply looked devoid of ideas and creativity in front of goal during their loss on Saturday, with their main tactic seeming to be to lump the ball high and long for Christian Benteke and hope for the best or be too over-reliant on set pieces.

When neither worked Palace looked toothless in attack, and the potential threat that Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend possess with their pace is wasted as they are restricted to throwing ball after ball into the 18-yard-box.

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Palace have now only managed five goals in their past nine Premier League matches, and if they are to have any chance of fighting relegation they will have to find goals from somewhere – and fast.

Based on Saturday’s performance the likes of Townsend and Zaha need to be given more attacking freedom, as against Sunderland they were too cramped on their respective touchlines only with the intention of beating a man and finding a cross.

This tactic rarely tested a stubborn Sunderland back line, who knew what to expect each time a winger was in possession of the ball; instead, Allardyce needs to use his January signing of Patrick van Aanholt more as an attacking outlet, as it would enable the left-winger to push into space more and move away from the wide position.

With absolutely vital matches against Stoke City and Middlesbrough to come next, it’s certainly not all over for Palace – but they need to re-find a winning formula in front of goal before it’s too late.