Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace: Eberechi Eze tipped to flourish in Conor Gallagher’s place this season

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Image for Crystal Palace: Eberechi Eze tipped to flourish in Conor Gallagher’s place this season

Football Daily’s Chris Hamill believes Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze can replace the output of Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher, who shone at Selhurst Park last season. 

Last season, Palace enjoyed an impressive maiden campaign under manager Patrick Vieira, finishing 12th in the Premier League, but finished sixth for expected league position, a whopping six places above where they finished (as per Infogol).

A big reason for this was the impressive form of their loanee Gallagher, who picked up 11 league goal contributions last season and finished with a nomination for the PFA’s Young Player of the Year award.

However, since Gallagher has now gone back to Chelsea, Hamill believes Eze can pick up the mantle and can take over from where his ex-teammate left off after missing a lot of the 2021/22 season through injury.

Hamill said on Football Daily’s Sunday Vibes show: “Gallagher, yes, they’ve lost him, he was prominent in the first team, put up a bunch of goals and assists, but Eberechi Eze, I think, can pick up that mantle. We didn’t see much from him last season, obviously coming back from a big old injury and didn’t get a lot of minutes because Gallagher was in the side.”

TIF Thoughts on Hamill’s comments…

While Eze only managed one goal and one assist in 13 Premier League appearances last season, he did rank in the 99th percentile for progressive passes received and 92nd for shot-creating actions compared to other midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues.

Meanwhile, during the 2020/21 season, he played 34 games in the league and picked up a combined 10 goals and assists in the top flight -under a defensive manager in Roy Hodgson.

Gallagher showed he is a great player last season, but there is no reason why Eze cannot come into the team and pick up where he left off if given the time and consistency in the first team, especially with the free-flowing, attacking football Vieira has them playing.

Who is better?

Eze

Eze

Gallagher

Gallagher

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