Eddie Nketiah impressed on his debut for Crystal Palace against Leicester City on Saturday.
The England international showed plenty of enthusiasm and energy on his first appearance for the Eagles following his £25m move from Arsenal on transfer deadline day, frequently spinning away from defenders to run in behind, while also using his body well to tempt Conor Coady into fouling Ismaila Sarr for our late penalty.
While analysing Eddie Nketiah on Match of the Day, Danny Murphy shared what “surprised” him about the Crystal Palace No.9 at Selhurst Park…
What Danny Murphy said about Eddie Nketiah
Chatting alongside Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer on Saturday night, Murphy admitted that the way in which Oliver Glasner deployed the 25-year-old on the right flank took him aback.
Lineker began: “Eddie Nketiah made his first start, didn’t he, for Crystal Palace. He looked lively.”
In response, Murphy said: “He did look sharp. It was a good game actually, and I thought the way they set him up surprised me. They played a front three, with Mateta at the tip of it, Eze to the left and Nketiah to the right, and he had good freedom.
“We only saw glimpses of him at Arsenal, but he wants to get it (the ball) there, he has got good feet, he came and got on the ball and demanded it. I think he is going to do really well for them.”
The £25m man certainly was sharp against the Foxes, going extremely close to finding the bottom left corner with a firm effort on his right foot in the second half, before eventually playing a key role in our equaliser, as aforesaid.
Oliver Glasner may have to rethink Crystal Palace No.9’s position
While Nketiah performed well on his Crystal Palace debut, the right flank has rarely been a fruitful position for the man from Lewisham throughout his career.
As Transfermarkt shows, the Londoner has only ever made ten appearances in that area, failing to score a goal while providing just one assist.
Interestingly, some Crystal Palace fans felt Nketiah was dropping too deep at times as well.
It was often awkward to see Nketiah on the right against Leicester, although his clever movement did see him pop up on the left at times, so hopefully, his position will not be as regimented going forward as it mainly seemed to be against Steve Cooper’s side.
