Crystal Palace welcomed back a former player on Saturday during a 2-2 draw with Leicester.
Despite being the better team against Leicester City, the wait for a first win of the season goes on for Crystal Palace after only managing a 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park.
The game saw Jean-Philippe Mateta bag a brace, salvaging a point from the encounter despite the Eagles being behind for most of the game.
Eddie Nketiah made his debut in the game, impressing fans – while Maxence Lacroix also made his Crystal Palace bow.
But it was not only debuts being made in this game as it also saw the return of one former Eagles star.
How Jean-Philippe Matera reacted to Jordan Ayew coming on for Leicester
Against Leicester, the Eagles were the better side quite clearly, but this will not offer Oliver Glasner any comfort as he now finds himself without a win in four games.
But on Saturday, it was Leicester who frustrated the Eagles – after a summer in which Steve Cooper’s side took two players from Crystal Palace.
Leicester signed Odsonne Edouard on loan from Crystal Palace – and so he by obligation was not involved in this game.
However, Jordan Ayew was sold to the Foxes and he started at right wing for Cooper’s side – although had very little success due to Tyrick Mitchell locking him down.
Ayew was withdrawn in the 83rd minute of the game and upon his exit, Mateta ran over to the former Eagles ace and gave him a high-five
The pair were always quite close while at Selhurst Park, so it is no shock to see them interacting on the pitch.
Oliver Glasner has work to do at Crystal Palace
Heading into this season, expectations were sky-high for what Crystal Palace could achieve, largely due to the impressive winning streak achieved toward the end of 2023/24.
This left ambitions high for this season, with European football as the target according to Daichi Kamada.
Glasner in many ways is a victim of his own success and due to this, the poor start to the season is almost being blown out of proportion.
Crystal Palace deserved to win against Leicester and if three points were achieved, the thinking would be positive with four points.
There is a lot of work to do however, Glasner needs to figure out his best front three – which he so far has struggled to do.
Despite Mateta’s goal-scoring form, for the good of the team, he might need to be the one missing out.
