Lucky 13 for Eberechi Eze as he plays big role in Crystal Palace’s 2-1 win at Southampton

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

It was lucky 13 for Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze today at Southampton as he opened his goalscoring account this season in just his 13th appearance after completing his rehabilitation from a long-term Achilles injury picked up nearly a year ago, in May 2021.

His classy 60th-minute strike on the south coast today brought the score level at 1-1 and built the platform for them to go on to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory thanks to an additional time winner from Wilfried Zaha.

“I’m really pleased for him,” said Vieira about the player who joined Palace from QPR in August 2020. “It was a long journey for Ebs, being out for seven months is really challenging. He’s a player who loves football. He likes to be on the field and loves playing the game.

“He went through some difficult periods where there was a lot of frustration not to play, not to start and not to get involved. In the last couple of games he’s been playing more and that’s good for hm, he’s ready to play at this level.”

Vieira then talked about the importance of not rushing back the attacking midfielder too early and revealed an insight into his journey back to being 100 per cent.

“The priority with Ebs was to give him time to get back to his best,” said the Palace boss.

“With the medical department we had a really good plan for how long it will take him to get back to his best. We didn’t want to have a step back. He will say to you he took longer than he wanted to, but what’s important is that today he is capable playing game after game and he’s capable of playing 90 minutes without any reaction after games. We are pleased with the time it took to get him to where he is today.

“We just had to prioritise what is important and what was important for us, talking to the medical department, was not to get another step back.

“Since he got back we had a really good plan, we pushed him week after week, he played a couple of games with the U23s and that was part of the plan.

“Today, he’s ready to compete week after week, today he is ready to play two games a week, we are pleased that we took our time and for him to get where he is today.”