Premier League team introductions: Crystal Palace would like to build on last season

A young cadre who were having fun. Crystal Palace shone last year and were nowhere near playing for salvation. But this year, without Conor Gallagher, what kind of squad will the London club go into the new season with?

The management team

Although many doubted Patrick Vieira’s involvement, he has managed to replace the legendary Roy Hodgson, in many ways even eclipsing him. 12th place and 4 points for the Top 9 says it all.

Mainly the standard of play has improved compared to Hodgson, the games under Vieira were really entertaining and even the favourites were troubled thanks to Palace’s good organisation.

Goalkeepers

The goalkeeping situation is quite convoluted, it wouldn’t be surprising at all if summer signing Sam Johnstone is the number one. He has worked his way up to being an England national team player over the last two years at West Bromwich.

Last year Vicente Guaita was given the chance most often, and Jack Butland occasionally, but both make mistakes from time to time and rank among the mediocre goalkeepers in the competition.

Defenders

The defence consists of three youngsters and one experienced player. Thirty-one year old Nathan Clyne operates on the right side, while on the left is young Tyrick Mitchell, who even had a peek at the England senior national team last year.

The same fate befell Marc Guéhi, who joined the national team six months after leaving Chelsea. Alongside him shone another newcomer to the team, Joachim Andersen, the Danish international joined from Fulham before the season.

It’s worse with the bench. Chris Richards and Nathan Ferguson are talented but inexperienced, James Tomkins and Joel Ward are bench players. If one of the backs gets injured there could be a big problem.

Midfielders

With Conor Gallagher gone from the heart of the midfield, Vieira is likely to play with a more defensive midfield this year. One of the captains Luka Milivojevic can probably look forward to more playing time.

Along with him Will Hughes, who joined from Watford before last season and hasn’t shown his full potential yet due to injuries. He should give the game a much-needed idea that may be missing without Gallagher. The most offensive duties should be versatile Jeffrey Schlupp.

Twenty-two year old French league reinforcement Cheick Doucouré has potential, and honest Scottish worker James McArthur played an important role last year. Jairo Riedewald will also be useful in a tough schedule.

Forwards

The three-man attack can be put together in many ways. Wilfried Zaha has a secure place on the left wing. Speed, dribbling, a good shot from the border and from outside the box, all of this adorns the Palace star.

On the other side, Eberechi Eze should start. The talented winger struggled with injuries last season, yet he should be the number one. At the tip of the attack is the biggest competition, Odsonne Edouard should be the first choice.

Three quality forwards will be waiting for their chance on the bench. Experienced Belgian Christian Benteke, Frenchman Jean-Philippe Mateta and Ghanaian Jordan Ayew.

Ideal line-up:

Johnstone
Clyne – Andersen – Guéhi – Mitchell
Milivojevic – Hughes – Schlupp
Eze – Edouard – Zaha

Ranking tip:: 12th place

Source: Crystal Palace