Mamadou Sakho has had an instant impact since joining Crystal Palace on loan from Liverpool in January, helping the Eagles to two wins and two clean sheets.
The second of those victories came on Saturday against West Brom, with the French defender’s eagerness to win the ball even seeing him slide-tackle the referee.
After taking the ball out of defence, Sakho tried to turn away from a couple of West Brom players in the centre-circle before losing control of the ball and ultimately taking out the unfortunate Mike Jones…
Sakho tackling the referee is the highlight of my day so far
— LFC Fans Corner (@LFCFansCorner) March 4, 2017
To be fair, the referee did go down with more than a little help from a West Brom’s Jake Livermore, but Sakho’s challenge is still quite something.
With the help of Sakho in the centre of defence, Sam Allardyce could well pull off yet another relegation-dodging escape act with Palace this season.
The Eagles now find themselves in 17th place, three points clear of the dropz-one.