Crystal Palace team news: Wonderful academy starlet could finally start
Crystal Palace are expected to rotate against Plymouth Argyle this evening
Crystal Palace could turn to an impressive youngster against Plymouth tonight.
He’s only ever played three games for the senior team.
He starred on loan last season, even scoring against Plymouth.
It has been a notoriously sturdy start to the Premier League season for Crystal Palace.
The Eagles have dispatched Sheffield United, narrowly lost to title-chasing Arsenal, and battled to a draw against an uncompromising Brentford side.
But tonight, attention turns towards the Carabao Cup, as Palace travel to Home Park to face Plymouth Argyle.
Speaking ahead of the clash, Roy Hodgson has confirmed he will rotate his side, with those coming in needing to prove they are deserving of an opportunity.
He said: “It’s the usual balancing act: we don’t want to send a reserve team down there and get beaten by a very good Plymouth side, because we know how good they are. If we’re going to get a result down there then we’re going to have to play a good team.
“It’ll presumably be some sort of balancing act where we don’t jettison anyone we think is a first-team player from the last three games just to give [a chance to] someone who hasn’t had a kick of a ball yet – you’ll have to deserve it.
“You’ll have to deserve a kick of the ball and you’ll have to deserve a place in the team in place of anyone that I decide to leave out.”
Therefore, this has opened the pathway for less-involved players, with Jesurun Rak-Sakyi in the running for some minutes…
Who is Jesurun Rak-Sakyi?
Hodgson has never been much of a ‘tinkerman’ – especially at Palace, the 76-year-old likes to stick to what he knows, with his team founded upon the values of reliability, solidity, and honesty, which has been crucial to the preservation of the club’s top-flight status.
Rak-Sakyi has unluckily been the victim of this – in the first three games of the season, the 20-year-old has been an unused substitution twice and managed just seven minutes at the end of the Arsenal encounter.
Nevertheless, in previous seasons, the winger has emphatically demonstrated his dazzling potential and effervescence.
In 55 appearances for the Palace U18s and U21s, Rak-Sakyi registered 45 goal contributions and was sent out on loan to Charlton Athletic ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.
Across 40 starts in League One, the attacker scored 15 times, crafted eight assists, and averaged 1.9 dribbles per game, ranking highest in the squad for each metric.
Interestingly, in Charlton’s 5-1 thrashing of Plymouth in August 2022, Rak-Sakyi netted, whilst also managing three successful dribbles, two key passes, and winning seven ground duels, as per Sofascore.
His former manager Ben Garner has previously lauded the forward’s incredible talent, saying: “His standout attribute is his wonderful balance and ability to change direction. He can beat people with his body movement. He can go both ways, finish off both feet, but he’s also got his eyes up and has vision.
“I worked with a lot of players in academy football who were fantastic dribblers but didn’t see movement around them. Jes can carry the ball but he’s got awareness.”
Hodgson has noted in the past that Palace has never placed “too much focus on cup games”, but Rak-Sakyi’s potential inclusion this evening – which could be just his fourth for the club – would show a change of thinking and give the youngster a chance to flaunt his magnificent skill.
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