Jordan Ayew’s double inspires Crystal Palace to emphatic victory at Leeds

Shortly before kick-off a tepid sun finally pierced through the banks of grey cloud which had enveloped West Yorkshire. It never became quite warm enough for Roy Hodgson to remove his padded, winter issue, club anorak but well before the end Crystal Palace’s interim manager bore the contented look of a man refreshed by a week on a tropical beach.

As the visiting fans chorused “We want six” and the excellent Eberechi Eze repeatedly danced around an increasingly shell shocked-looking Leeds defence, Hodgson’s justifiable pride will surely have been tempered by an acceptance that the Eagles had been a little lucky.

Until Marc Guéhi equalised on the brink of half time, Leeds had, after all, missed a succession of chances with Palace’s reserve goalkeeper Sam Johnstone almost single-handedly keeping his side in the game for an extended periods.

Everything became transformed beyond recognition after the break with a Leeds surrender not merely alarming their manager Javi Gracia but leaving them 16th, only two points above the bottom three. In contrast Hodgson’s suddenly upwardly mobile Palace rose to 12th, six points clear of the relegation zone and apparently renascent.

Gracia’s penchant for, depending on the opponent, mixing and matching tactics dictates that Leeds have become a bit of a chameleon team but they began here in an aggressively front foot style reminiscent of their approach under Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch.

The game had barely begun before a quartet of home chances had been and gone, with Johnstone, making his Premier League debut for Palace while deputising for the injured Vicente Guaita, saving smartly from Brenden Aaronson and Luis Sinisterra. Given that Patrick Bamford chipped a shot off target and