Crystal Palace defender Guehi on leadership, table tennis with Conor Gallagher and learning from Vieira and Ashley Cole

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Marc Guehi says that he is still learning in the Premier League, despite playing in all seven of Crystal Palace’s top-flight games this season since his summer move from Chelsea.

“Every game has been a learning curve for me,” said Guehi ahead of captaining England U21s in their UEFA U21 Championship qualifier against Slovenia tomorrow night.

“Understanding the margins in the game and that the league is very, very ruthless, that any mishap, mistake or if you are out of position at any point, definitely gets punished. I feel like I’m still adapting still learning every game, still trying to understand. I don’t think I’ve adapted completely but I’m still young, still got a lot of things to learn and I can only hope that I can continue to adapt the way I have been.

“I’ve been up against fantastic players like [Mohamed] Salah, [Sadio] Mane and [Harry] Kane, so I’m just relishing the moment I’m having now and hopefully I can continue this and play against more of these top players.

“I love playing football, any opportunity I can,” he added when questioned about the amount of club and international games players are expected to play each season. “It helps when you’re my age and you don’t have as many injuries, you feel quite fresh and young so you’re able to go out there and have as many games as possible and for me that’s what I need, to have good run ins. It really helps with experience and more knowledge of the game – that’s what you want.”

In all but 33 minutes of the league this season, Guehi has lined up in the centre of the Palace defence with fellow new signing, Joachim Andersen, and the former Chelsea player is enjoying the new partnership, which has seen two clean sheets so far.

“It’s going well, we’re getting used to each other’s games and understanding how we both want to play and what roles we have in that partnership,” said Guehi. “I’m really enjoying it and, hopefully, with many more games to come, we can solidify that and get more clean sheets and more wins.”

Part of that mentality of keeping clean sheets comes from Guehi’s work with England at international level with new U21 manager Lee Carsley bringing in former Premier League defenders Joleon Lescott and Ashley Cole – a former Palace loanee – as coaches.

“From the last camp, from the very first day, it’s a very cliche thing to talk about clean sheets as a defender and wanting to do that, but they really drilled into us how much it means to them and how much he should mean to us as defenders as well,” said Guehi, who spent time on loan at Swansea last season.

“That really is a platform for [England U21s]. There’s so many instances where we’re doing drills from blocking crosses and positioning off crosses and getting up to shots and a lot of communication, which is what they want, they really shared a lot of with us.

“As a defender to have those two who have done so much in the Premier League and over their football careers, coaching and sharing their knowledge with us, is just fantastic.”

That learning has been added to by another former Arsenal legend, Palace boss Patrick Vieira, with Guehi happy the direction the Eagles are taking.

“At Palace we’re in a process where we’re all taking under consideration what the manager is bringing to the table and the way he wants us to play,” he said. “I think it’s working really well. We’re all gelling well together. There’s a bit of frustration there that we haven’t got the results that we wanted, but the most important thing is that process and that we are playing well, creating chances and looking a strong team going forward.”

Part of that strong team going forward is Palace’s midfielder Conor Gallagher, who has scored twice this season and who knows Guehi well, having grown up with him at the Chelsea academy.

“He’s a fantastic player, someone who already has Premier League experience with his time at West Brom, so he’s accustomed to the league,” explained the 21-year-old. “I’m not surprised at all that he’s done so well. He brings so much energy to the team, that goalscoring form that he is now showing and reproducing. I’m sure he’ll carry on that for the season for us.

“He doesn’t want to leave me alone,” joked Guehi when asked by the South London Press if he cannot escape his team-mate, who he plays with at both club and international level. “Conor is as a good friend, someone that I’ve grown up with and who I really enjoy playing with.

“He’s doing really well at the moment and I’m just really glad to be playing with him right now but sometimes we’ve seen each other so much that it’s like, alright, for this week, I just don’t want to talk to you, and we’ll talk to each other next week just because I’ve seen too much of you’. But it’s always good to spend time with Conor.”

And some of that time is ‘downtime’, when the players relax and take their minds off football, but for Guehi and Gallagher, the competitive element is still present, though table tennis.

“I think Conor will be honest and say I am the better table tennis player,” says Guehi to the South London Press with a smile. “It’s quite even, but I’m definitely the better table tennis player and I’ve won most of the games, but that’s a really important part of the game, that downtime, taking your mind off of things.”

With Guehi’s mind on England duty and leading his team out in Slovenia tomorrow and then again in Andorra on Monday, he tells the South London Press about moving from being one of the youngest players in the dressing room in SE25, to being one of the oldest with England, how his leadership qualities adapt and what he is learning.

“I think it’s a bit of a mixture,” he said. “There’s loads of leaders at Palace, so many leaders. But there’s so many leaders here with England.

“There’s so many voices in the team in England and it is quite similar at Palace. I’m just trying to learn off of both sets and try and become the leader that I want to be. It’s just fantastic for me to be part of both of them.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD