After four Premier League matches, Crystal Palace sit just 16th in the league, which is a far cry from where they are hoping to be, even in the aftermath of losing their best player, Michael Olise, to Bayern Munich.
Next up for Crystal Palace is a tough fixture against Manchester United, a Europa League side by virtue of winning the FA Cup last season. Right now, Man United are in 10th, and this is a winnable game for Palace despite the vast difference in wage bills.
Crystal Palace may not be having the best start to the season, but they still have two of the best midfielders in the Premier League – top-class stars leading the way after Olise’s departure.
Both attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze and center/defensive midfielder Adam Wharton rank among the top five players in the Premier League in progressive passes after four matches.
Wharton is third with 36 behind only Manchester City stars Kevin De Bruyne and Manuel Akanji. Man City are the most dominant team in England and get a huge share of the ball, so Wharton coming in a close third to Akanji is an achievement. (De Bruyne is in a league of his own with 47 progressive passes.)
As for Eze, he ranks fifth with 31 progressive passes, trailing Tottenham and former Leicester City playmaker James Maddison. Although Maddison has a slight advantage as a passer, Eze safely has him beat everywhere else.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.