LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 12: Jefferson Lerma of Crystal Palace celebrates after scoring with his team mates during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Chelsea FC at Selhurst Park on February 12, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images)
£70k-a-week Crystal Palace player has been unlocked by Adam Wharton, goals could now flow
Crystal Palace may have lost to Chelsea on Monday night but there were plenty of positives to take from the display.
So the result on Monday night wasn’t ideal, with Chelsea coming from 1-0 down to take all three points against Crystal Palace.
This undoubtedly will have left Roy Hodgson distraught, however, in the game he discovered a new deadly duo to add to Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise.
Here’s who Adam Wharton has unlocked on his full debut for Palace.
Adam Wharton has gotten the best out of Jefferson Lerma
Since arriving in the summer for free, Jefferson Lerma has been solid but not great for Crystal Palace. This, however, was down to little of his own fault as he struggled in a deeper role with massive defensive responsibility.
But on Monday night that all seemed to change thanks to one man who made his full Palace debut. Wharton was brilliant in his role of sitting deep, breaking up play and winning duels before laying it off to his more creative teammates.
Lerma therefore has been handed license to go forward and he took full advantage of that with his stunning strike to beat the Chelsea keeper – putting Palace ahead at the time.
On £70k-a-week, finally, Lerma looks like he’s found his role in that Palace midfield and it’s down to Wharton who’s taken responsibility for the defensive side, leaving Lerma to roam and get involved in attacks.
Now, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the goals start flowing for Lerma as he looks to make up for the absence of Eze. Lerma will be loving playing with Wharton already after he was so impressive in his role that he has been heralded as a ‘Champions League player’ in the aftermath.
Palace now have a strength in midfield
For the whole of this campaign, Palace’s sole strength has been individual brilliance from Olise or Eze, but now with the addition of Wharton, the midfield has become 10x better.
Against Chelsea, it was Palace’s midfield who got the best of the £200m duo of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo.
A really encouraging sign for Palace and something Hodgson should definitely build around if he wants to see this season out.
