Odsonne Edouard hoping Palace win over Leeds sparks run of positive results

Odsonne Edouard hopes the 2-1 Premier League win over Leeds United is just the beginning of Crystal Palace picking up a run of results.

Edouard, 24, scored his second top-flight goal of the season last Saturday when he met Michael Olise’s free-kick inside the penalty area and planted a header past Leeds goalkeeper Illian Meslier.

The former Celtic forward, who the Eagles signed for £14million in the summer of 2021, opened the scoring for the South Londoners in the previous game against Chelsea, finishing off Jordan Ayew’s cross in the seventh minute.

Frenchman Edouard has been Patrick Vieira’s first-choice striker this season, starting five of their eight Premier League games and also scoring the opener in the 2-0 EFL Cup third-round win against League One side Oxford United.

“It’s a very good win for the team and for confidence, because the last win against Aston Villa was a long time ago,” said Edouard following the win over Jesse Marsch’s Leeds at Selhurst Park.

“Leeds started well for the first 20 minutes but after that we got better and better. We managed to score this [equalising] goal, which gave energy to the team. We managed to play well in the second half.”

The Eagles faced Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in their opening seven Premier League games of the season but now have a favourable set of fixtures coming up against sides in the bottom half of the table.

Palace travel to Leicester City tomorrow to take on a side who have only won one game all season.

“It’s the beginning of a good series [of wins], I hope,” said Edouard. “Now, we have to work hard next week to prepare for the next game and try to win.”

The four-time Scottish Premiership champion had a stuttered start to life with the Eagles, losing his place in Vieira’s starting line-up to fellow French forward Jean-Philippe Mateta towards the end of last season.

“As a striker, I need to score more goals,” admitted Edouard. “I need to keep working hard during training to keep on scoring. I hope I score the next game.”

Brendan Rodgers will be without Wilfred Ndidi for tomorrow’s game, with the Leicester boss confirming the midfielder will be missing with a hamstring injury. Full-backs Ricardo Pereira and Ryan Bertrand are long-term injuries.

Luke Plange, who joined Palace last winter from Derby County, scored his second goal of the season on loan at Belgian Challenger Pro League side RWD Molenbeek on Saturday. Fellow loanee defender Jake O’Brien played the full 90 minutes.

Jesurun Rak-Sakyi played 77 minutes in Charlton’s 4-2 League One win over Exeter City.

Malachi Boateng netted his first goal in professional football on Tuesday night, scoring Queen’s Park’s consolation in their 2-1 Scottish Championship defeat to Greenock Morton.

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD