Conor Gallagher’s Crystal Palace loan stay is nearly at an end….will he be back again next season?

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Starting with the visit of Roy Hodgson’s soon-to-be-relegated Watford to Selhurst Park on Saturday, Crystal Palace have just four games left of an eventful season which means just four games left of the loan spell of their potential player of the season, Conor Gallagher, to enjoy.

The on-loan Chelsea star has excelled in South London, playing in 30 of the Eagles’ 34 Premier League games so far, missing two fixtures against his parent club and being rested for Norwich and West Ham over the festive period.

His form impressed England manager Gareth Southgate so much that he named him in his England squad and with a World Cup in Qatar at the end of the year, debate surrounds whether it is in the best interests of the attacking midfielder to return back to west London and fight for a place in a Champions League squad or return back to SE25 with almost-guaranteed first team football.

“We don’t know,” said the Palace boss about if he knew Gallagher would be at Selhurst Park next season.

“At the moment what is important for Conor and for us is to finish the season well and then we will see what will happen. But something I can tell you is that he’s enjoying himself with us and we are glad to have him.”

Finishing the season well has been the mantra for Vieira and his squad in recent weeks, following a league run where they recorded just one point out of a possible nine and lost in the FA Cup semi-final.

But their 2-1 victory away at Southampton on Saturday reversed that downward trend with goals from Eberechi Eze and Wilfried Zaha ensuring a come-from-behind victory, pushing Palace back into contention to beat their best-ever finish (10th) and points (49) total since their return to the top flight in 2013.

“It’s challenging, yes, when you get to a couple of games left and you don’t have much to play [for],” said Vieira when asked if it was difficult to get players to understand how important every point is at this stage of the season.

“But for us in our football club it’s about building something consistent. You can’t choose the games that you want to play or the games that you think you’re going to win.

“It’s about a culture that we want to bring about – how do you prepare yourself every day, every week to allow you to perform in a weekend?

“These last four games of the season we will have the same programme in the week, we will have the same meetings and the pressure will be the same because that is something that we have to live with and this is something that I want players to bring every day in games and training.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD