Majority of football writers at sportsmole.co.uk have chosen Ghana striker Jordan Ayew as Crystal Palace’s Player of Year.
Ayew was in top form before the suspension of the English Premier League due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
The Ghana international banged in goals to ensure the Eagles won three games in a row after winning just one of their previous 12.
But the performance of goalkeeper Vicente Guaita has been impressive too with Roy Hodgson’s side needing only one more point to reach the 40-point safety mark.
Here are the views of Sports Mole team on who they think has been Palace’s player of the season so far.
Barney Corkhill, Editor:
Considering Crystal Palace’s poor attacking record this season it seems somewhat counter-intuitive to select a striker as their best player of the campaign, but in a squad where few individuals have stood out, Jordan Ayew has been Palace’s most important member for me.
The 28-year-old has scored eight of Palace’s 26 goals, and crucially five of those have been winning goals – only the Liverpool trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have been responsible for more winners.
Ayew’s goals have been the difference between Hodgson’s side battling for a place in the top half or fighting against relegation, and a special mention must also go to his goal-of-the-season contender against West Ham United.
Matt Law, Football Editor:
The likes of Vicente Guaita and Gary Cahill deserve praise for their performances this season, but Jordan Ayew, in my opinion, deserves to be named Palace’s player of the season.
The 29-year-old has managed eight Premier League goals this term and his form has been particularly important considering that the team’s star man Wilfried Zaha has registered just three league goals.
Only Zaha (29) has made more league appearances than Ayew (28) for Roy Hodgson’s side this term, while the attacker has scored the winner in Palace’s last two league games against Brighton & Hove Albion and Watford. One thing is for sure, the Eagles would not be 11th in the table at this stage without Ayew’s goals.
Darren Plant, Senior Reporter:
On six occasions, Palace have prevailed by one-goal margins when Ayew has made an impact in the final third, which includes a goal against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
However, five of his other seven strikes have come against teams below Palace in the table, meaning that the versatile attacker has been the major difference between a relegation battle.
Dan Lewis, Senior Reporter:
Despite netting just one top-flight goal during last season’s loan spell, Ayew clearly did enough to persuade Palace to pay Swansea City £2.5m to sign him permanently last July.
That has to go down as one of the best signings of the summer transfer window as the Ghanaian has eight goals to his name.
Source: Ghana Soccernet
