Zaha stunner cancelled out by late Bees equaliser

Brentford showed their fighting qualities once more as substitute Yoane Wissa’s late header earned a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

The 25-year-old escaped the attention of Marc Guehi and Tyrick Mitchell to head home Vitaly Janelt’s deftly weighted cross, cancelling out Wilfried Zaha’s superb goal just before the hour mark.

The Eagles’ talisman was a doubt for the game after missing the weekend defeat to Manchester City with a knee injury, but he showed exactly why Chelsea are interested in signing him after firing Palace ahead with a truly magnificent strike.

Collecting Cheick Doucoure’s pass just outside the Brentford penalty area, Zaha squared up right-back Aaron Hickey before arcing an unstoppable curling effort past the despairing David Raya.

It was a moment of real individual quality in a game that lacked any real bite until the final few minutes, though Palace were marginally the better of the two teams in south London.

Michael Olise looked dangerous cutting in from the right-hand side, though his tame effort and a long-range strike from Jeffrey Schlupp was as good as it got before half-time.

The former Reading academy graduate then bent an effort against the frame of Raya’s goal after the break, having drifted past Rico Henry with consummate ease, before Zaha broke the deadlock in style with his fourth goal of the season.

But Brentford have shown already this season that they are more than capable of coming from behind, and having mustered just one shot on target before the 88th minute, they struck again to earn Thomas Frank a precious point on the road.

Neat interplay between Janelt and Frank Onyeka opened up space for the German to cross, and his exquisitely weighted ball was headed past the helpless Vicente Guaita by Wissa from just six yards out.

Rico Henry could have won it for the visitors in stoppage time but Guaita stood firm to turn his low drive behind, before Ben Mee’s stooping header hit the crossbar from the resulting corner.

Up next for Palace is a trip to St James’ Park to take on Newcastle, though it remains to be seen if Zaha will still be at the club with Chelsea’s interest likely to step up after another breathtaking individual display. As for Brentford, they host Leeds United at the GTech Community Stadium on Saturday.

Player of the Match: Michael Olise