Five things we loved from Palace’s opening day win

First-team

13 Aug 2023

Crystal Palace started the 2023/24 Premier League campaign in the perfect fashion, sweeping to a confident victory at Bramall Lane.

Odsonne Edouard scored the only goal as the Eagles dispatched Sheffield United, in a game which they could have won by more – including seeing two goals ruled out for narrow offsides.

Here are five things we loved about an ideal Saturday afternoon…

Passing with ‘flying colours’

How good was new man Jefferson Lerma?

The Colombian midfielder displayed the quality to explain why he has 35 international caps and was named Bournemouth’s Player of the Season last time out. Roy Hodgson predicted in his pre-match press conference that the fans would love him, and he was not wrong.

Winning 100% of his tackles, 12 out of 13 aerial duels and having 82 touches of the ball, the stats back up what we saw with our naked eye: he was phenomenal.

Roy Hodgson's post-match press conference

“He was outstanding – outstanding,” said Hodgson in his post-match press conference. “He is an outstanding player, really good.

“He was everywhere – all over the field. Defensively he was excellent, and he also had a really good game going forwards. He must have been really happy with his debut and his day’s work."

“We were impressed with him in the two matches in the United States as well, but this is his first real game for Crystal Palace in the Premier League and he came out of it with flying colours.”

You voted Lerma your Man of the Match – for results, click HERE.

Back on the road

A new season means away trips are back, and it was great to see so many Palace fans making the trip to Sheffield – and making some noise to back the boys in the process.

Stood behind the goal, Sam Johnstone had constant backing and adulation, and in the second-half stopped to wave and salute the supporters singing his name.

Super Sam Johnstone in goal…

The new skipper

Joel Ward’s first on-field action as the permanent captain of Crystal Palace? To ruffle some feathers.

Wardy won the toss and switched the two sides around before kick-off, unsettling the hosts and drawing boos from the home fans, who wanted to attack towards the loudest section of the ground in the second-half.

Instead, Palace got that benefit and duly scored the winner after the break. Good job, Joel.

A striker’s instinct

First game, first goal for Odsonne Edouard.

It was a striker’s finish too: sniffing around in the six-yard box, clever movement to create space and an emphatic finish.

He scored again, too, rounding off a free-flowing move but from a marginally offside position.

“He had a very good game,” said Hodgson. “Now he has scored a goal – and he may say two goals if he wants to contest the offside! It was a good move, I thought, and a good finish. I was disappointed to see it being chalked off.”

Edouard himself admitted that his goal will bring confidence.

“I’m a striker, so my target is to score goals for the team and I hope I will do this to help the team. It is good for the confidence as a forward.

“We have a good team, we have to work hard and today we win and we proved we have a good squad.

“It’s just the start of the season. There are 37 games coming, so we will see!”

Don’t mess with Roy

Hodgson v Lowe. Touchline tumble.

He’s still got it – we'll leave you to check out Match of the Day for this one…

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