Southampton ace James Ward-Prowse joins Cristiano Ronaldo in third on all-time Premier League list for goals scored from direct free-kicks with only David Beckham, Thierry Henry and Gianfranco Zola scoring more

The Premier League has had plenty of free-kick specialists down the years.

David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Gianfranco Zola, Cristiano Ronaldo and countless other football greats have all been absolutely lethal from the dead ball.

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James Ward-Prowse is up there as one the very best the top-flight has seen.

The Southampton man scored his ELEVENTH goal from a direct free-kick as the his side drew with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

The 27-year-old slotted home an equaliser in fine style after Wilfried Zaha gave the hosts the lead, before Armando Broja and Jordan Ayew made sure both sides shared the points in south London.

Ward-Prowse's goal means he now has 11 from free-kicks in the top-flight and only three more players in history have scored more from dead balls.

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Manchester United legend David Beckham leads the way, and by a margin too, with 18 goals scored directly from free-kicks.

Thierry Henry and Gianfranco Zola are joint-second on the list with the two forwards hitting 12 for Arsenal and Chelsea respectively.

With his goal at Selhurst Park, Ward-Prowse has now joined Ronaldo, Sebastian Larsson and Laurent Robert as the third most lethal with from free kicks.

Unfortunately, for Ward-Prowse, his beauty of a free-kick wasn't enough for Southampton to win the game.

Palace got off to a flyer when Odsonne Edouard passed into Zaha, who blasted past Willy Caballero for his fifth goal of the season.

Ward-Prowse's special free-kick levelled the match before Broja let fly from range to beat a sprawling Butland and put the visitors 2-1 up.

But Palace got back on level terms when Jordan Ayew ended his long wait for a goal.

Edouard was denied by Willy Caballero but the Ghana international was on hand to slot home from a tight angle.