Eberechi Eze nets brace as Crystal Palace overcome Bournemouth at Selhurst Park

The breakthrough arrived in the latter stages of the first period, before Eze doubled his tally for the afternoon with a strike just before the hour, as Roy Hodgson's side secured all three points in comfortable fashion.

The result has left Palace in 12th spot in the table, now on 43 points, while Bournemouth remain 14th, with the Cherries on 39 points from 36 matches this season.

The first half-chance of the match came for Palace in the 15th minute, with Wilfried Zaha finding Michael Olise, who dribbled towards the box before looking to pick out the far corner, but his effort was just wide.

Olise then turned provider for Zaha in the 26th minute, delivering a brilliant cross towards his teammate, but the latter somehow failed to make contact, with Bournemouth given a let-off in the English capital.

There was a VAR check for a possible Bournemouth penalty in the 31st minute, with Jefferson Lerma going down under a challenge from Joachim Andersen, but eventually the play was allowed to continue.

The breakthrough arrived before the end of the first period, with Eze opening the scoring at Selhurst Park.

Excellent work from Zaha in a wide area saw the Ivorian deliver into Jordan Ayew, and the attacker's flick then picked out Eze, who swept the ball into the back of the net in empathic fashion.

Zaha came close himself in the closing stages of the first half, curling one just wide of the far post, with Bournemouth fortunate to only be one goal behind heading into the half-time break.

Will Hughes came close to doubling the home side's advantage with a rasping strike in the 47th minute, but Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto was on hand to make a brilliant save.

Zaha was forced off for Palace with an injury in the period that followed, but the Eagles got over the disappointment by scoring a second through Eze, who worked his way towards the edge of the penalty box before finding the back of the net with a powerful strike.

Neto did well to keep out a low strike from Olise in the 70th minute, with the hosts looking for a third, and Eze had a chance to complete his hat-trick in the final exchanges, but Palace ultimately declared at two.