Eberchi Eze carves Sheffield United apart with a goal of the season contender as Crystal Palace start 2021 with a win

Crystal Palace ended a run of five matches without a win as they extended Sheffield United’s winless start to the Premier League season to 17 games.

Jeffrey Schlupp gave the hosts the lead in just the fourth minute as the Eagles capitalised on some woeful defending, putting the Blades to the sword as the wide man found the bottom right-hand corner with a decent finish.

The goalscorer would later be substituted for young starlet Eberechi Eze in the 40th minute after suffering what is believed to be a hamstring injury that could keep the 28-year-old out for a number of weeks.

No matter for Roy Hodgson’s side though, because Schlupp’s replacement soon stole the show.

Given the wing-back’s lengthy spell receiving treatment, the fourth official Keith Stroud indicated a minimum of five minutes added time once 45 minutes had been played. However, there was controversy to come in south-London.

With just seconds left of the given additional time, 22-year-old Eze picked up the ball in his own half, skipping past Oliver Norwood comfortably.

It seemed that the referee Stuart Atwell would blow his whistle for half-time given the end of the added time, however, he allowed the winger to go on and score one of the contenders for goal of the season.

After Norwood, Ethan Ampadu was the Greenwich-born player’s next victim, gliding past the Wales international comfortably. This left plenty of space to run into which the former-QPR man did with ease. However, Eze didn’t need to enter the territory of the 18-yard-box as he produced an excellent low finish past Aaron Ramsdale from just outside of the area to double his career tally for Palace. 

The summer signing’s previous goal was also of the ‘belter’ category, scoring a free-kick in a 4-1 rout of Leeds United, but his solo effort will definitely be a goal of the season contender come May.

The 2-0 scoreline completely changed affairs at Selhurst Park. At 1-0, Chris Wilder would’ve praised his players for what was an acceptable performance and, with more quality in the final third, Crystal Palace would’ve been more likely to have been exploited. 

However, 2-0 down with 45 minutes to go and not looking likely of scoring a goal is a completely different beast to try and overcome.

The side from South Yorkshire huffed and puffed but very rarely got a shot away, with the strike partnership of David McGoldrick and Lys Mousset proving ineffective.

With numerous injuries and COVID-19 cases, Chris Wilder could only field six substitutes on the Sheffield United bench, one of whom was 16-year-old Antwoine Hackwood.

Aged just 16 years and 288 days, the striker was introduced in the 80th minute for his Premier League debut and became the 13th youngest Premier League player in history. A proud moment for the club and player, overshadowed by yet another defeat.

The defeat means that Sheffield United have now set a new record for the longest ever winless start to a Premier League season, 17 to be exact. Two points from a possible 51 is a monumentally poor return, and you can be forgiven for not seeing where affairs will improve for the Blades.

As for Palace, they end a run of five without a win (three draws and two defeats) to move up the table into 14th place ahead of Sunday’s games.

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