EAGLES SOAR
Incredible stats reveal Crystal Palace good bet for Champions League next season… but only if they keep Olise and Eze
Both players are on the radar of top Premier League clubs
CRYSTAL PALACE have turned a corner since the arrival of new boss Oliver Glasner.
The 49-year-old Austrian arrived on February 19 after Roy Hodgson departed.
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And in his 13 games in charge of the club, Glasner has led them to seven wins and three draws.
Their incredible end of season run included impressive victories over Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester United and Aston Vila as they went from relegation candidates to earn a 10th-placed finish.
Palace have scored a remarkable 29 goals under Glasner, with front-three Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta in red hot form.
Both Eze and Olise had injury problems early in the season that massively impacted Palace.
Looking at the remarkable stats, they won just five of the 24 games in which one of the duo were missing.
And they scored just 22 goals, which works out at a disappointing 0.9 per game.
Their win percentage is also at a poor 20.8 per cent when one of Eze and Olise don't play.
And Palace average just a point per game and take just 11.4 shots each 90 minutes.
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But there is a huge contrast when Eze and Olise are both named in the starting XI.
Their trickery and ability to carry the ball up the pitch make Palace a far more dangerous threat in attack.
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Along with their creativity to feed Mateta and their eye for a goal, the Eagles look like a different side when they're both in the team.
In the nine games in which Eze and Olise have started, the South Londoners have won seven.
They've scored an incredible 26 goals and hit the back of the net an average of 2.9 times per match.
And their win percentage rockets up to an impressive 77.8 per cent, which equates to an impressive 2.3 points per game.
Glasner's men would finish on 87 points if they continued that record across the length of a season.
That would put them in the Champions League places, with Arsenal ending the campaign on 89 points in second and Liverpool coming third on 82.
Even in matches they both don't start - but appear in off the bench - their points per game is up at 1.9 and they average 2.5 goals every match.
That's a whopping three times as many strikes as they manage when the duo don't play.
Again, across the course of an entire season the stats show that the Eagles would end on 72 points.
It's no surprise to see Eze linked with Manchester City and Olise attract interest from Manchester United and Chelsea.
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Even Mateta is on PSG's radar this summer.
But keeping that front-three at Selhurst Park is integral to Glasner's plans to take Palace from regular upper-bottom half mediocrity to European challengers.
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