Some Crystal Palace fans are hailing Jordan Ayew for his performance against Bournemouth last night and feel that the striker ‘turned into Neymar’ against the Cherries.
Roy Hodgson’s men saw Mamadou Sakho get sent off within the first half an hour in the game, leaving Palace with ten men against Eddie Howe’s men for about an hour of the game (BBC).
A Jeffrey Schlupp goal in the second half helped the Eagles pick up a compact 1-0 win that has now lifted them up to as high as fifth in the Premier League table, with Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United yet to play their games today.
Some Palace fans are in awe of Ayew and are hailing his performance against the side from the South Coast, with one going as far to say that the Ghanaian turned into Neymar for the last 20 minutes of the game.
Palace fans: Is Ayew underrated?
Yes
No
Ayew turned into Neymar the last 20 minutes
— Crystal Palace Waco (@PalaceWaco) December 3, 2019
What a result! Kelly, Kouyate, Ayew and Schlupp were warriors out there.
Fantastic atmosphere in the Holmesdale led by the Fanatics as well.— The Palace Socialist (@OpenVeins1971) December 3, 2019
Showed so much heart and grit to grind that out.
Luka, McArthur and McCarthy leaving marks on the other players.
Schlupp & Ayew play for my football club.
We’ve got our Palace back.
— george (@GLPALACE) December 3, 2019
Kelly, Kouyate, Schlupp, Ayew…all proper #cpfc players. All written off at some point, even by us Palace fans…all coming back with a point to prove & playing out of their skins for the shirt. Our club has always been built around these kind of characters & always will be.
— L.i.am (@GilesyL14) December 3, 2019
LOL. You should have seen yesterday’s game. Palace with one man down i.e. Sakho. Ayew played like he had 2 hearts (I don’t even like man like that) but he deserves credit when it’s due.
— VOCABULARY LENNY (@lennybriscoeII) December 4, 2019
For all Palace fans that has to be the best 1 0 win for years all the players battled to get the three points. Who was the imposter pretending to be Ayew last season immense performance tonight bargin of the summer.
— norman paice (@norman27055) December 3, 2019
Palace signed the younger Ayew brother from Swansea in the summer of 2019 for a fee of £2.5million with add-ons.
This season, the Ghana international has played 14 times in the Premier League for the Eagles. During this period, he has found the back of the net four times. He has also played once in the League Cup so far.
He was on a loan deal at Selhurst Park last season, but he played a total of 25 games in all competitions for Hodgson’s men. He found the back of the net twice and racked up a total of three assists as well.
A product of the Marseille youth academy, Ayew came to the Premier League from Lorient but he first went to Aston Villa from France.
What do we think?
Ayew may not have scored as many goals as a striker can for a club like Palace, but he has shown that he is a hardworking player. This season, he has won 3.4 aerial duels per game, completing 1.1 dribbles per game too. He has also won 1.2 tackles per game and it shows how he can work his socks off on the pitch.
And the praise that he is getting after the win against Bournemouth was long overdue. He deserves it.