Jean-Philippe Mateta had a game to forget on Sunday, as Crystal Palace lost 2-1 away at Everton.
Crystal Palace saw their club record 19-game unbeaten run come to a crashing halt at Everton on Sunday, as Oliver Glasner’s side now go into the October international break on the back of a defeat.
Jack Grealish scored in injury time to beat Crystal Palace on the day. But there were plenty of positives for the Eagles who, for the most part, were the better side.
Jean-Philippe Mateta though just couldn’t put away his chances. Mateta missed a number of chances to score and pundit Darren Bent even thinks he should’ve had a hat-trick on the day.
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Darren Bent issues brave Jean-Philippe Mateta prediction at Crystal Palace
Speaking on talkSPORT, Bent gave his verdict on Crystal Palace’s defeat against Everton and on Mateta’s performance at the Hill Dickinson Stadium that day. And despite Mateta’s performance, along with the fact that he’s not immune to missing clear-cut chances, Bent says that kind of performance won’t happen again for the Frenchman this season.
Bent said: “When you look at the chances they created, and I’m talking about proper clear-cut chances, Palace had the opportunities. I mean, Mateta should have walked off of a hat-trick.”
Bent went on to add: “I think you take the positives because Mateta won’t have another game like that this season. He should have scored a hat-tick. Minimum.”
This month, Mateta has earned his first call up to the French national side for games against Azerbaijan and Iceland in World Cup qualifiers. So far for Palace this season he has two goals in seven Premier League games.
Jean-Philippe Mateta tops unwanted Premier League statistic
Over the last two years, we’ve seen Mateta blossom into a really fine Premier League striker under Glasner at Selhurst Park, with 14 goals in the Premier League last season and 16 the season before.
In fact, Paul Merson has even said Mateta is ideal for Man United and what they need right now, which highlights just how far Mateta has come under Glasner.
But there’s still room for the 28-year-old to improve. Whilst he has two goals this season, he leads the Premier League for big chances missed, with seven to his name already, or one for every game he’s played in, with a shot conversion of just 11.8%.
Two of those seven big chances missed came against Everton and if Mateta had even converted one of them then Palace would remain unbeaten.
All is not lost, though. Mateta remains a big player for Crystal Palace who remain in 6th place of the Premier League table, and with an exciting European campaign on the agenda for this season.
