Eze and Benteke star as Zaha quiet in Palace win at Sheff Utd

Sheff Utd 0-2 Crystal Palace

• Goals: Christian Benteke (£5.5m), Eberechi Eze (£5.8m)
• Assists: Eze, Gary Cahill (£4.5m)
• Bonus points: Eze x3, Benteke x2, Cahill x2

EAGLE-EYED

It was the differential options that benefitted most from Crystal Palace’s 2-0 win over Sheffield United in Triple Gameweek 35.

Eberechi Eze (£5.8m) was the top-scoring player at Bramall Lane as his assist, goal, clean sheet and three bonus accumulated for a 14-point haul.

While that was his biggest Gameweek score of the season, recorded against the division’s worst side, Eze’s appeal does extend past his most recent outing for Crystal Palace. 

His 38 key passes and six assists are both team-leading totals this season while no Palace player can offer better than Eze’s value of 19.5 points per million spent in 2020/21.

Meanwhile, only Wilfried Zaha (£7.2m) has been directly involved in more Premier League goals for the Eagles this season (12, not including Fantasy assists) than Eze (nine, not including Fantasy assists).

As a result, the £5.8m man is just 15 points shy of Zaha’s current season score of 125.

“Yeah (Eze is), very, very good. Difficult period, a bit of a baptism of fire with Chelsea, City, Leicester in a row. Not as easy to get on the ball and show skills. We know that’s the quality he possesses, we preach that we want to see it and we won’t criticise if he tries it and it doesn’t come off. He was bold with the ball, stayed on it, drove forward, and of course, got his reward with an assist and a goal. If you ask me if I’m happy with him this season, absolutely. He’s more than played his part. It’s his first season coming from the Championship and you expect a bit of time taken to adapt, especially with the gulf between the top teams and the bottom. You can’t beat teams anymore by organisation or work rate.” – Roy Hodgson

WIDE OF THE MARK

Despite coming into Triple Gameweek 35 with 11.5% ownership, Zaha was very much on the periphery of Crystal Palace’s Bramall Lane win.

For the third league match in a row, he was deployed on the left-hand side of a front-three rather than handed a centre-forward’s role alongside Christian Benteke (£5.5m).

While that position helped him punish Leicester on the counter-attack in Gameweek 33, Palace’s dictation of play at Sheffield United saw Zaha make less use of space behind the hosts’ defence.

Perhaps influenced by the niggle he carried in the Manchester City game, Zaha’s passing was also less than optimal on Saturday afternoon while he struggled to get the beating of anyone in one-on-ones as well.

John Egan (£4.7m) threw a brave block at Zaha’s 45th-minute shot and Benteke probably should have squared for him in the second half but the closest he came to a return was when substitute Jordan Ayew (£5.6m) lacked a clinical edge at the back post after a sideways pass from the midfielder.

Zaha’s owners will now be looking to the Southampton game for Triple Gameweek 35 rewards although he will need to up his game at St. Mary’s on Tuesday night.

BENTEKKERS

The 1.2%-owned Benteke showed his affinity for away matches once again on Saturday.

In netting Palace’s opener inside the first 66 seconds, the former Liverpool man has now scored three goals in his last five away trips.

It was also his seventh of the campaign from 27 appearances, more than Benteke has managed in 71 appearances across his last three Premier League seasons combined.

And he probably should have come away from Bramall Lane with an even bigger score after Aaron Ramsdale (£4.6m) produced a stunning diving save in the first half to deny his bullet header.

Then, in the second, had he squared for Zaha after pickpocketing John Fleck (£5.6m), he would have almost certainly chalked up a third assist of the season.

Meanwhile, it was a second successive start on the right-hand side of Palace’s front-three for Andros Townsend (£5.5m) who took all but two of their corners.

Finally, Tyrick Mitchell (£3.8m) has started back-to-back Premier League matches for the Eagles for the first time since Gameweek 20. No Palace defender has won more tackles than his 52 this season (78.8% success rate).

Sheffield United XI (3-5-2): Ramsdale; K Bryan (Lundstram 80′), Egan, Basham; Stevens, Fleck, Norwood, Berge (Osborn 60′), Baldock; McGoldrick, Burke (Jebbison 65′).

Crystal Palace XI (4-3-3): Guaita; Mitchell, Cahill, Kouyaté, J Ward; Schlupp (Riedewald 71′), Milivojevic, Eze; Zaha, Benteke, A Townsend (Ayew 75′).

Triple Gameweek 35 so far…

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