Next up in our deep dive into Premier League teams is London based side Crystal Palace who go into this campaign without Wilfried Zaha on the books for the first time since 2015. With young stars oozing out of every corner of the club and an experienced old hand presiding over it all, the Eagles will look to improve on their 11th place finish last term. The question is, can they do so?
Who's in charge?
The man returning to the dugout this term with Palace is 75 year old Roy Hodgson. Following on from last season in which the Englishman was parachuted in to rescue the Eagles from a downward slide under previous head coach Patrick Vieira, the wily old fox will now be aiming to make his side soar ever further and make an unlikely push for the European places.
Hodgson, who prefers a 4-3-3, can be credited massively with Palace's uptick in form towards the back end of last season and the explosion of Eberechi Eze which went hand in hand with said string of results; and it is this credit in the bank which see the Premier League's oldest ever manager return for a full season whilst Palace get their affairs in order.
A man who's managerial career started a full 11 years before any of his current squad had been born, Hodgson is not one to suffer fools and his no nonsense approach will surely keep the ship steady whilst his higher-ups decide what course to plot for the future.
It's not a long term appointment, but for sure it's a safe one.
The Ins and Outs
Ins:
Jefferson Lerma - Bournemouth (free)
Outs:
Wilfried Zaha - Galatasaray (free)
Jack Butland - Rangers (free)
Luke Plange - Carlisle (loan)
Luka Milivojevic (released)
James McArthur (released)
Standout player
Whilst many may assume that Crystal Palace’s player of the season award had been giftwrapped and hand delivered to Wilfried Zaha’s door before Christmas every year in recent memory, it turns out that Cheick Doucoure’s victory in 2022/23 made it five consecutive separate winners.
And this year, it looks likely to become a sixth with former QPR man Eberechi Eze set to take this season by storm.
Eze was a man transformed last term once legendary coach Roy Hodgson returned to the dugout, contributing six goals and one assist across the final ten fixtures for the Eagles.
Whilst this purple patch came during a fairly kind spell of fixtures, the signs in pre-season are positive that this could actually be the awakening of a superstar.
With Hodgson at the helm for the entire season and the more defensively minded Lerma alongside him, Eze could continue his unavoidable rise to stardom this season.
He will surely be Crystal Palace’s standout player in 2023/24.
Will this season be successful for Crystal Palace or not?
Overall, this season for Crystal Palace looks like it will be successful if not a little uninspiring. The arrival of Jefferson Lerma will bolster up the midfield and allow Eze to push on further forward and truly take this season by the scruff of its neck.
Add to that the likes of Marc Guehi and Cheick Doucouré and the Palace defence could be even more solid than ever. Whilst losing Zaha is a blow, it could be argued that this actually has more of an off-field effect than actually on the pitch as the 30 year old contributed just seven goals in 22/23.
Of course there is a lack of creativity from the flanks with the loss of Zaha and potential exit of Frenchman Michael Olise, Palace should still comfortably have enough to survive and we see them around the lower mid table area.
Make sure to check out the other posts in this series, you can find the previous one here, where we put Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea under the microscope.
Let us know what you think, is there anything we got wrong? Leave a comment or find us on our socials.
Ben Watts
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