Tomkins: We knew fast start would be crucial

James Tomkins says Palace’s fast start was crucial to their victory over Sheffield United at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

Palace scored after just three minutes when Jeffrey Schlupp fired home, before Eberechi Eze added a spectacular second before half-time.

“The manager said we had to take the second-half against Leicester into the first-half of this one. In the Premier League, you can’t start slowly – go a goal down or two and it’s a long way back, so we did well.”

Speaking in his post-match interview, he said: “We knew it was going to be a bit of a battle. They wanted to get their first win on the board and we didn’t want it to be against us so we had to start brightly and get that first…