Tammy Abraham and Jordan Ayew fire Swansea to first win and pile yet more pressure on Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace 0 Swansea 2: In the battle of the two winless teams, Swansea came out on top against a Palace side who appear lost under new manager Frank de Boer
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Frank de Boer's revolution at Crystal Palace continues to stall after Tammy Abraham and Jordan Ayew deservedly got Swansea's season off and running.
In the battle of the two winless teams, Swansea came out on top against a Palace side who appear lost under new manager de Boer.
The patient build-up play and formation appears lost on his players. The South Londoners, even more worryingly, are still looking to score in the Premier League this season.
Some home supporters even joined in the Swansea taunts in de Boer's direction that he will be 'Sacked in the morning'. That appears unlikely but he will need to get it right after the international break or those calls will become even louder.
Swansea can at least begin to look upwards as goals in either half were enough for them to earn their first league win at the first attempt.
There were 12 goals between these two teams last season but there appeared little chance of history repeating itself here.
That should have changed inside the opening two minutes with Swansea missing a golden chance to draw first blood through Ayew.
Abraham found space down Palace's left hand side and his cross was diverted wide by Ayew's header.
Crystal Palace had already lost 3-0 at home to Huddersfield and they already appeared a side devoid of confidence.
When they did go long to Christian Benteke they looked threatening. That almost contributed to their opener as the Belgian was involved in the build-up play which saw James McArthur head just wide.
McAthur had scored twice in the League Cup win over Ipswich in midweek and he looks the most likely for Palace. The Scottish midfielder found room before dragging a 20-yard shot just wide of Lucas Fabianski's right-hand post.
This dour game was putting the stale into stalemate. Abraham almost injected some much-needed life into this game in the 36th minute.
It came following a mistake by Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who lose control of the ball and Abraham's toe-poke was diverted wide by Wayne Hennessey, even though the ball was seemingly heading wide.
From the resulting corner, Alfie Mawson rose unchallenged from Tom Carroll's corner but headed inches wide to the relief of the increasingly restless home supporters.
That would change when Abraham would break the deadlock in the 44th minute. It had been coming, with Leroy Fer crossing and Abraham escaping his marker, Martin Kelly, to sidefoot home. It was Swansea's first shot on target this season and soon led to jeers from the stands.
It couldn't get any worse from the home side, or so they thought, as Ayew added to Swansea's lead just three minutes into the second-half
Just moments after Kelly had come close, the substitute was caught trying to play the ball out of the back and was intercepted by Kyle Naughton.
The full-back's pass saw Ayew beat the offside trap and the striker rounded Hennessey to slot home.
Palace were finally beginning to go long to Benteke in a way to find their way back in the game. He might have been enjoying little joy against Swansea's three defenders but he occupied space for Andres Townsend to curl wide.
But the home side were becoming increasingly desperate. Two penalty appeals were rightfully waved away after Chong-young Lee and Yohan Cabaye, both thrown on as substitutes, had gone to ground under challengers.
Townsend again came close before Cabaye's free-kicke failed to dip enough to trouble Fabianski. All of Palace's efforts were coming from distance with Swansea packing their defence to protect their lead.
They were given few scares and the south Londoners knew it wouldn't be their day when Townsend's curling shot went the wrong side of the post. It summed up their afternoon with de Boer booed as he headed for the tunnel at the final whistle.
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