The injury to Eze is a significant blow to Palace, but Hodgson should replace him with this “immense” talent.
It’s not the bells of Christmas ringing at Crystal Palace, it’s alarm bells following four defeats in their last five Premier League matches.
The latest of those – a 2-1 defeat against Luton Town – happened to be the worst of the lot with the Eagles throwing away a one-goal lead as the Hatters launched a second-half fightback to secure only their second victory of the campaign.
Statistically, that was a game Palace should never have lost having registered eight shots on target to their opponent’s two, as per Sofascore, while accumulating an expected goals (xG) of 1.67.
Nonetheless, the visitors were undone by their own wastefulness once more and although tasting defeat against Luton was a bitter pill to swallow, it wasn’t the worst result to come from that game as star player Eberechi Eze was forced off the pitch through injury in the 49th minute.
Roy Hodgson now needs to somehow find a replacement for his exceptional talent, who is crucial to everything that Palace do in the final third, ahead of their London derby fixture against West Ham United later today.
Eberechi Eze’s statistics this season
With only two goals and one assist to his name this term, such statistics would normally imply a player hasn’t had much of an impact on proceedings, but that isn’t the case with Palace’s superstar.
The 25-year-old, who was hailed by former manager Patrick Vieira as “different class”, has still delivered on the Frenchman’s praise by producing sensational attacking metrics.
Eberechi Eze’s 23/24 Premier League statistics
Statistic
Value / Palace squad ranking
Key passes per game
2.2 / (1st)
Successful dribbles per game
3.2 / (1st)
Penalties won
1 / (1st)
Shots on target per game
1.2 / (1st)
Big chances created
2 / (1st)
Considering he reached ten goals and six assists in all competitions last term, it hasn’t been the best start to the season from Eze’s point of view, but the above table implies that he’s still a dominant force and the one most likely to produce some magic in the final third.
The fact he’s top across most attacking metrics in the Palace squad, including successful dribbles per game and big chances created, suggests Hodgson has the near-impossible task of replacing him, with Eze likely to be out for about four weeks.
That said, the injury to the Englishman could see him unleash talented teenager Matheus Franca against West Ham.
Why Franca should start against West Ham?
Although several big clubs were previously interested in the Brazilian, it was the Eagles who pulled off the astute £26m capture of Franca from Brazilian side Flamengo in the summer.
Despite so much hype surrounding his name upon arrival, with journalist Antonio Mango describing him as “immense”, the 19-year-old has been used sparingly by Hodgson this season having featured across just 31 minutes in the Premier League.
Talent scout Jacek Kulig even hailed him as “one of the most exciting teenagers in Brazil” two years ago after plundering 19 goals and supplying ten assists for Flamengo’s underage sides.
With such quality being broadcast to the rest of the world, it was no surprise to see many people wax lyrical over his precocious talents.
This is evidenced by the fact he’s outperformed Eze across most attacking metrics in the past year, including successful take-ons (3.09/2.86), progressive carries (4.64/2.43) and non-penalty goals (0.39/0.31), as per FBref.
Whilst the £40k per-week gem was strutting his stuff in a division with much less quality than the Premier League, he’s still outperformed arguably Palace’s best player, which suggests it could be time for him to unleash those attacking attributes in England’s top flight.
