Crystal Palace hammered Stoke City 4-1 to move up into the top half of the table while Southampton edged Swansea 1-0 in Sunday afternoon’s league fixtures.

Stoke manager Mark Hughes worst nightmares were realised after his under-pressure side conceded two goals in two minutes as they failed to deal with the aerial threat of the home side.

James Tomkins got the final touch from a corner in the ninth minute before Scott Dann towered his header home from Jason Puncheon’s cross. Stoke offered little in the way of attacking threat as they headed into the break two goals down.

Dann almost had his brace in the second half but Bojan cleared the danger from the line. Palace went three ahead after Geoff Cameron turned the ball into his own net in the 71st minute before Andros Townsend’s stunner four minutes later sealed a memorable win for the Eagles. Townsend cut in from the left and smashed home a wonderful individual goal.

At St Mary’s, subsitute Charlie Austin scored in the 63rd minute to hand Southampton the lead after Dusan Tadic’s cross was not coped with by the Swans defence.

The goal was sweet relief for the home side after Nathan Redmond squandered a first half chance when scoring seemed easier. Redmond’s attempted to redeem himself as he created a wonderful chance only for the linesman to incorrectly rule him offside as he laid the ball back for a teammate to tap home what should’ve been the match’s opener.

The win is manager Ronald Koeman’s first in the Premier League after a tough start to life at Southampton.

Spurs host Sunderland in the final match of the day.