Crystal Palace captain Dean Henderson praised the Eagles’ defensive unit after they kept their 12th clean sheet of the Premier League campaign against West Ham.
Crystal Palace skipper Dean Henderson heaped praise on the Eagles’ defence after yet another clean sheet in a 0-0 draw with West Ham.
Henderson led the Palace defence to their 12th clean sheet of the Premier League season, a total only bettered by Arsenal’s 15 and Manchester City’s 13 this season.
It is a huge testament to the quality of defenders the Eagles now possess, despite losing captain and star defender Marc Guehi midway through the season.
Despite not replacing Guehi after his £20 million move to Manchester City, Palace have continued to be a defensive rock, with Janvee Canvot impressing alongside Chris Richards and Maxence Lacroix.
Henderson, who has 11 of the 12 clean sheets to his own name which puts him behind only Gianluigi Donnarumma and David Raya in the Premier League, heralded the sensational effort from the defenders in front of him.
He told Sky Sports: “I think it is an unbelievable return from our league position, to have that return on clean sheets is fantastic, and the defensive unit is so good.
“Anyone who has stepped in has been excellent, so we have just got to keep that going, that is the foundation we have built, and hopefully we can add some goals at the other end.”
Henderson showed just why he is held in such high regard by all Palace faithful when making an incredible close-range save off a header from Konstantinos Mavropanos shortly before half-time.
That was the best chance for West Ham, and arguably of the match but Henderson was able to get a strong hand on it to deny the Greek defender.
“To be fair, he leapt over the defender, and he got some power behind it, and I didn’t really see it after that,” Henderson added.
“I just managed to get my hand up and keep it out.
“That is my job, but I was happy to make a save like that tonight.
Palace’s draw has not technically eliminated them from the possibility of reaching the European places but it has severely hamperred their chances.
They do have a game in hand on those above them, against Manchester City, while they also have matches against both Liverpool and Arsenal on the last day of the season.
In fact all of their remaining opponents are in the top half of the Premier League table as it stands, showing the size of the task at hand.
That makes the draw against West Ham all the more frustrating and Henderson cited it as a missed opportunity.
“We’re obviously disappointed. I think the lads gave it everything they could,” he said.
“Obviously, a few tired legs out there, but we pushed on towards the end to try and get the winner.
“Unfortunately, we just could not manage to do that today, but we take the clean sheet, we move on and get ready for some important games coming up.
“I’ll be honest, we wanted to win today, we wanted to close the gap above.
“Ultimately, we tried our best.
“Obviously, we played midweek late, get back, and it can be tough at times, the three-game weeks, and it is disappointing.
“We feel like it is a bit of a missed opportunity, really.
“We really wanted to push on in the Premier League, and we still can do that.
“I believe we still have a game in hand, so hopefully we can win the game in hand and push on.”