Born in Greenwich, a product of the London football scene, it should be no surprise that in an FA Cup semi-final full of international talent – from Marco Asensio to Emi Martinez from Aston Villa – it was Eberechi Eze who found the key to unlock it all. It was his goal that kickstarted Crystal Palace’s 3-0 win and despite it coming as part of a true team performance, it is Eze who will rightly get the plaudits.
After half an hour at Wembley, which really is a home stadium for Eze after he became a full England international, Eze made the decisive strike to open up a game which had started cagey and grown worried.
Eze is the type of player who does this. He is from EFL heritage and does not just let things slide. Having struggled to impact the game for 20 minutes, he took the chance to change the course of this match in its entirety here. Coming alive after Jean-Philipe Mateta charged down a Villa clearance, Eze probed and went under the water like a submarine to find space whilst attention shifted to shutting down Ismaili Sarr.
By the time Sarr cut the ball back to the edge of the box Eze had come alive again. When he does wrap his foot around the ball, time has virtually stopped. The whole ground knows what is coming. Things happen in slow motion for Eze and he was left with so much room that he really didn’t need to blast one in past Martinez but did so anyway.
It was he who took the quarter-final away from Fulham. It was he who helped Palace into a 2-0 lead at Manchester City. Had he looked across the line in the same game then it would have been 3-0 thanks to another stupendously hard finish made to look so easy.
This is Eze core. He is a player who dances and wriggles. He twists and turns. He plays in the areas that nobody else wants to go into, especially not defenders
You could see him rise and grow in this match after the goal as well. Dare it be said, Eze had looked a little out of touch and a lot uncertain in the opening of this game. His touch had avoided him and Villa were controlling possession as well as Eze.
There was frustration in the direction the game had gone in his venomous shot. It beat Martinez just as much due to pace as direction. It is a Wembley thunderbolt for the ages but it was not in the top corner. It did not have to be.
He saved the precision for Wednesday night and a sumptuous volley at Arsenal. They need no reminding how good this guy is. At 26 he is the sort of signing that makes so much sense for teams trying to improve.
It is noticeable that Martin Odegaard’s replacement earlier this season when he was out through injury was a 17-year-old in Ethan Nwaneri. A very good 17-year-old at that,
They did the whole buying a top English attacking midfielder thing with James Maddison. Eze is playing for a better team and is a better player.
His workrate at Wembley was just as good as his flashy feet or nimble movement. Yes, he won a penalty. Yes, he scored one of the best FA Cup semi-final goals ever. But in the age of modern football totalism, Eze also scrapped around on the edge of his own box for large periods whilst Palace blocked Villa out.
It takes an entire cohort and a unit to do this. Mikel Arteta knows that as much as anybody. Oliver Glasner is an organiser and a tactical disciplinarian. If Eze is in the team it is because he is trusted. Not only to maybe pop up and produce magic like this but also trusted to be a team player. Eze plays like someone who is above the rest because, most of the time, he is. But he does not carry himself like it.
He was willing to go and get the plaudits from the Palace fans afterward when they sung his song – “Eze’s on fire, your defence is terrified,” well, yes, but is it Villa’s backline or the one of Manchester City or Nottingham Forest who await in the final? – but also threw his teammates forward.
Eze is now established in the Premier League. His quality is undoubted. He is a good age to arrive into his peak and continue to develop. He is a £60million player and Palace’s next obvious sale – other than Marc Guehi and Adam Wharton, who will also be heavily in demand and rightly so.
Both Arsenal and Tottenham know just how good he is and don’t need displays like this to back it up. He is among the best and on Saturday, Eze truly showed that.
