Sport
Crystal Palace’s first choice striker debate
Some Premier League teams have a clearly defined hierarchy at centre-forward, where one player – think Gabriel Jesus at Arsenal, Erling Haaland at Manchester City or Aleksandar Mitrovic at Fulham – starts whenever he is fit. Other sides, Crystal Palace among them, chop and change up front.
In Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Bournemouth, it was Jordan Ayew who got the nod through the middle. The Ghana international opened the scoring with a header from a Michael Olise corner, finding the back of the net for the first time this term.
Ayew has spent much of his Palace career playing on the right, but that does not excuse his poor goal return. He has notched just five goals in his last 80 Premier League outings for the Eagles, despite being a regular starter. Indeed, no player has made more appearances for Patrick Vieira’s side in 2022/23.
There is a reason for that. Ayew is a manager’s dream. His industriousness and work ethic have made him a favourite of Vieira, who regularly selected the 31-year-old ahead of Olise on the right flank last season, much to the frustration of some Palace fans. Ayew also possesses excellent close control and a knack for winning free-kicks, while he is adept at taking on and enacting Vieira’s tactical instructions.
It will be interesting to see whether Palace stick with Ayew as their central striker when Tottenham Hotspur visit Selhurst Park on Wednesday night. Given that Spurs play with wing-backs, Vieira might be tempted to restore Ayew to the flank and deploy Wilfried Zaha through the middle. That would ensure the Ivory Coast international does not have to track all the way back on the wing, allowing him to stay fresh for the attacking phase of the game.
Vieira has two other options in Odsonne Edouard and Jean-Phillipe Mateta, both of whom entered the fray in the second half against Bournemouth on New Year’s Eve. Neither has truly convinced the Palace boss since he arrived in south London at the start of last season.
Mateta provides physical presence up top and is able to run in behind, whereas Edouard tends to move towards the ball and is the superior link-up player. The latter has been given more opportunities this season, scoring three goals in nine starts, while Mateta has only been included in the XI from the first whistle on two occasions. However, he was Vieira’s go-to pick in the second half of last season.
“It’s a good battle,” Edouard said of the fight for the starting berth in August. “It’s important to have some competition in the team, and Mateta is a good player and a good striker, so we’ll see.”
Right now, though, it appears to be a choice between Ayew and Zaha up front, with Vieira taking the opposition into account before making his final selection. It is never a bad thing to have options as a Premier League manager, but Vieira would no doubt prefer it if one of his strikers scored so many goals that the Crystal Palace striker debate was ended.
