So perhaps it's little surprise Joel Ward calls his attacking teammates 'frighteningly good'.

"The front four or five lads are exciting players," he told Palace TV after the Eagles' 2-0 victory. "They’re able to create something out of nothing. It could have been five or six had it not been for some good blocks and some very good saves.

"So hopefully going into these next games they can continue to shine on the pitch and as a unit defensively we can continue to be the Palace that we are, which is hard to break-down, build from a solid foundation and we’ve got some frighteningly good players up top to create and make things happen."

Ward's pride in both Palace's attacking prowess - which was on display from kick-off and resulted in a goal after 66 seconds - and their defensive strength, too, which allowed the frontline to apply pressure with freedom.

Clean sheets always feel good 💪#CPFC | #SHUCRY pic.twitter.com/AskE54VnqN
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) May 8, 2021

Discussing how he and the back four become involved in attacking play and the game more widely, Ward said:

"Every game is different: I think you feel your way into the game and things open up and a lot of it is instinct. You see how things are shaping up and the momentum of the game as well. Obviously it’s nice to be a part of that and get forward and contribute to the attacking side of things as well.

"But, it’s a cliché, first things first is making sure we’re solid and keeping the line up high so it allows them [attackers] to press and hopefully win the ball up high.

"In the recent games we’ve come across some of the top teams in the country and also the world so we’ve had to change the way in which we played. Today was slightly different.

"We wanted to be a little more front foot and I think the start summed it up: straight from the off we pressed high and made sure we put ourselves about them and that resulted in the early goal. There were spells with some lovely football and, on another day, we could have been five or six up. We came through good in the end and got the second to seal the deal."

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