Eberechi Eze back to 100 per cent and set for more game time in Crystal Palace run-in

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has revealed that Eberechi Eze is back to 100 per cent after playing his first full game for nearly a year on Sunday.

The attacking midfielder played the whole 90 minutes for the Eagles in their 2-0 FA Cup semi-final defeat at Wembley after recovering from a freak training ground accident to his Achilles heel last May.

“This is something that he was waiting for a while, to play 90 minutes,” said Vieira ahead of his team visiting Newcastle on Wednesday. “He’s had a couple of months of training every day, been playing a couple [of games] and now he’s fully fit. Of course, the more games he plays, the better he will feel, but I was really, really pleased with his 90 minutes on Sunday. He felt tired after the game, but that was expected.”

Eze’s appearance against Chelsea at the national stadium was his 11th of the season in all competitions, with the former Millwall youth player being reintroduced to action in the Palace U23 side early last November, ahead of his Premier League re-entry at the end of the same month.

“If you ask me, I will tell you I was 100 per cent a long time ago,” joked Vieira to the South London Press about if he feels Eze is fully fit now.

“But it’s always some steps, because after a long injury like that what we don’t want is a step back. We’ve been really careful with the medical staff, looking at his workload. Sometimes we have to make a decision for the players.

“Of course, he’s not happy because what he wants to be on the field and to play but it was important for the technical and medical staff that they manage him well so he can, firstly, train every day. At the start he played a couple of games with the academy and that was part of his programme.

“He managed to play the 90 minutes and we were quite really happy with how physically he managed the game. Everything wasn’t perfect but he’s in a good place now and he’s ready to play game after game.”

Just seven games remain of the season and Vieira is keen to have Eze involved in all of them.

“He will start some of them and come off the bench in the other ones,” said Vieira. “It’s important for him to keep training on a regular basis, build his fitness and see what will happen at the end of the season.

“I’m really pleased with what he’s showing and he will play games from now until the end of the season.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD