Roy Hodgson hails duo who have 'blessed' Crystal Palace after Wilfried Zaha exit

27 December 2023 , 06:00

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Roy Hodgson hails duo who have 'blessed' Crystal Palace after Wilfried Zaha exit

Michael Olise is getting the Palace fans “buzzing” like Wilf Zaha since snubbing a move to Chelsea last summer, Roy Hodgson has claimed.

And the former England boss reckons there are good times ahead for Crystal Palace despite a run of seven games without a win. The London-born French U21 star turned down a £35m move across London in the summer when the Stamford Bridge club met the buyout clause in his previous contract.

Olise, 22, instead signed a new four-year deal to stay in South London. A serious hamstring injury kept him out till November this season but he has returned to score a Goal of the Season contender at Luton and net a nerveless penalty to secure a draw at Manchester City. Olise was also man-of-the-match in the stalemate with Brighton just before Christmas.

Palace have lost 12 consecutive matches to London rivals Chelsea dating back to October 2017 when Eagles legend Zaha scored the winner. And Hodgson said: “Every club needs players that get the crowd buzzing and we have been blessed with Wilf through the years and now we have Olise and also we have Eberechi Eze.

"We have two players like that who can do that job and get the crowd buzzing and I think the crowd are very much behind the team and I think they will recognise that there are some good moments ahead for this football club.”

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While Olise did not want to go to Chelsea, Marc Guehi came through the youth system at the West London club but made only two League Cup appearances before joining Palace in July 2021 for £18m.

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Michael Olise and Ebere Eze have both missed games through injury this season (MICAH CROOK/PPAUK/REX/Shutterstock)

“We think he is an outstanding player and we believe that with guys like him and (Joachim) Andersen and guys like Eze and Olise and with people like (Odsonne) Edouard and (Jean-Phillipe) Mateta, what they’re doing this year, there is enough threat in our team to get us where we would like to be at the end of the season,” said upbeat Hodgson.

The Eagles boss, who claimed Eze is closer to starting after his ankle injury, added: “I don’t think we will go to Chelsea with them being frightened out of their wits with the team that we can come with to play against them but I also believe we will go there and give them as good a game as we’ve given the last three teams we have played, all of them European teams.”

Neil McLeman