Crystal Palace matchwinner Tyrick Mitchell: I wish fans had been at Selhurst Park for my goal

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Tyrick Mitchell has admitted the only downside of his first goal for Crystal Palace is that it happened without supporters at Selhurst Park.

The 21-year-old grabbed the winner for the Eagles in Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Aston Villa.

Just six minutes remained when he converted with his shoulder following an Eberechi Eze mishit.

The goal had followed an assist. Mitchell crossed for Christian Benteke to draw the sides level at 1-1 in the first half and he was later named man of the match on a day he will never forget.

“I’m not really one to get on the scoresheet, so this moment is amazing for me and I just hope to build on it and gain more confidence,” said Mitchell.

“I would rather actually strike it,” he added about his goal. “That way I know where it’s going to go. But with this one I was just buzzing – it’s an amazing moment for myself and my family.

“We started off a bit slow, [but at half-time] they just told us to be brave and to know that we could win the game if we tightened up and played like we did for the last 15 minutes of the first half.

“We went into the second half knowing that if we continued to build on it we could get a victory or at least a draw. We dominated the second half so it’s a great win for us, for the team.”

Since making his first team debut as a substitute away against Leicester on July 4, the former Brentford academy player has an unusual record – he has never played in front of a crowd due to fans being banned during the Covid-19 period. He was not in the squad for the Tottenham home game in December when 2,000 fans were let in at Selhurst Park.

But after starting the last four Premier League games in place of Patrick van Aanholt, the former U23 player is highly likely to make it five, lining up against Arsenal at home on Wednesday night when 6,500 fans will be let in to watch the game.

“I can’t wait to finally meet them in the stadium,” said Mitchell. “It’s going to be an amazing moment for myself and I hope they can help us finish the season strong.”

“That’s the only downfall,” he admitted about not being able to score that goal in front of fans. “But I know they would have been happy at home so that makes me smile at least.”

With the traditionally-strong Arsenal to come and then Liverpool, fighting for Europe on Sunday, the league wraps up for the season with Mitchell well-prepared for the attacking threat he will face, thanks to the quality of players he faces in training every day.

Two wins will ensure a record Premier League points total for the Eagles, something Mitchell is aware of but not focussed on.

“We don’t really think about club records or anything like that. We just want to win as many games as we can, that’s the main goal for the squad,” he said. “We literally just want to get as many points as we can to finish off the season strong, because how you finish the season is how you start the next season so we want to finish as well as we can.

“We’re always confident going into every single game because we know we’ve got a good enough squad to beat anyone on our day. There is loads of attacking quality in our squad so every day [training] is hard for me. When I go on to the pitch, I wouldn’t say it is easier, but I am better prepared [to face any attacking challenge].”