Yoane Wissa steals a point for Brentford amid Wilfred Zaha transfer storm

On nights like these, it’s almost impossible to imagine Wilfried Zaha playing for anyone else. A spectacular goal in Patrick Vieira’s 50th match as Crystal Palace manager in the week that the hero of SE25 was once again linked with a move away from his boyhood club looked like being enough to see off Brentford until substitute Yoane Wissa spoiled the party late on.

It was a sucker punch that said everything about the resilience of Thomas Frank’s squad and left Vieira to take out his frustrations on a nearby water bottle, with Ben Mee’s late header hitting the crossbar as the visitors almost snatched all three points.

Zaha’s presence in the hosts’ starting lineup after he missed their matches against Aston Villa and Manchester City with a knee injury would have calmed the nerves of any Palace fans concerned with rumours that the Ivory Coast forward could be on his way in this transfer window.

Vieira’s cryptic response to a question about the 29-year-old’s future before this match that “there is what I think and there is what the chairman thinks and there is what the player thinks” certainly did not help dampen speculation over links with a move to Chelsea. The home supporters made their feelings clear in the early stages here, breaking into their first Zaha chat within minutes of the start.

With Michael Olise – making his first Premier League start of the season after a foot injury – and Jean-Philippe Mateta also restored to the Palace attack and Brentford’s summer signing Keane Lewis-Potter selected alongside Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo, the omens at least looked good for an improvement on the two encounters between these two sides last season.

A pair of instantly forgettable scoreless draws were only really notable for