April 14 2014

Julian Speroni

Crystal Palace keeper JULIAN SPERONI played down his match-winning save in the victory over Aston Villa.

The custodian reacted sharply to dive low to his left and push out a potential equaliser from Villa sub Andreas Weimann late on.

Palace held on to triumph 1-0 and climb nearer to safety with that save just one of many world class blocks the Argentine has made this season.

"I was just glad that save helped the team get the points in the end," he said.

"I try to my best to help the team. Sometimes as a goalkeeper you make some saves and the team ends up losing and it can be frustrating."

SPERONI says his excellent form is not down to having fellow glove man Wayne Hennessey keeping him on his toes.

He said: "This is the Premier League, you’re always going to have competition for places and that’s the way it is.

"You have to be professional and do the best you can. In this case, with me in particular, I work 100 per cent every single time.

"It doesn’t matter who is behind or who is front of me, I am always going to do my best.

"I know what I have to do and I have done that all my career. It is important to have competition for places."

The clean sheet against Villa was SPERONI's 100th for Palace.

"It's a great achievement," he said. "It's something that, as a goalkeeper, you love to do – keep clean sheets.

"You are always pleased after the game if you keep a clean sheet. But to reach 100 of them is fantastic, really. I'm proud of that, very proud."