The hallmarks of years spent in both Chelsea and Arsenal’s academies were on view for all to see on Tuesday night as Eddie Nketiah got off the mark for Crystal Palace.
Nketiah scored his first Palace goal when he received Eberechi Eze’s quick free-kick, pirouetted and slammed a shot through the legs of QPR goalkeeper Joe Walsh.
The goal helped Palace progress in the Carabao Cup but manager Olivier Glasner liked his all-round game.
Nketiah played alongside Eze and just behind frontman Jean-Philippe Mateta, passing intricately and constantly making runs off the ball. His technical ability allowed him to wriggle out of tight spaces.
Palace spent up to £30million to sign Nketiah from Arsenal in the summer and Glasner said: “You can trust that we did our homework before signing him.”
He added: “When you watched Eddie playing at Arsenal, he played as a No9. But he is very involved in the games; he is not an [out-and-out] No9. He is very smart at finding space, can play the line, can play No10, can make runs in behind.
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“Eddie showed it before he joined us — he’s a guy who can score goals. It was a [matter] of time before he scored his first. I’m sure it won’t be his last.’”
Elsewhere in the Cup last night, Fulham crashed out after an epic 16-15 penalty shootout defeat by Preston after a 1-1 draw in normal time at Deepdale.
Brentford reached the fourth round with a 3-1 home win over Leyton Orient.