Crystal Palace blitzed set pieces in training, says goalkeeper Hennessey

Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey says the Eagles players worked “really hard” at set pieces ahead of their 3-0 win over Southampton.

Palace’s conceded several sloppy goals from set plays in their 5-4 defeat to Swansea the week before, their sixth Premier League loss in a row.blitzed

However, the Eagles returned to winning ways with a comprehensive victory over the Saints at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

And Hennessey said the team worked tirelessly in training ahead of the game in order to stamp out routine defensive mistakes.

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“We worked a hell of a lot last week,” the stopper said. “We had Tuesday off but then we had a three-day lead up into the game.

“We just needed to nail down a few things, so we worked really hard. We looked over the goals conceded at Swansea and they were all little mistakes.

“We needed to be a lot more solid and a lot more resolute to try and keep clean sheets. I really hope we can do that now.

“On defending corners, we went over them so hard. I think in one session we must have had around 30-odd corner situations or something.

“We all needed to know where each man was and it was a case of ‘don’t let your man score’. Then I’ve got myself and to keep sorting people out in the box, have someone on the back post etc.

“You could tell it worked as it paid off.”