CRYSTAL Palace star Eberechi Eze dedicated today’s 3-2 Selhurst Park win over Wolves to the club’s supporters.
Tyrick Mitchell provided a 56th minute cross for Odsonne Edouard to head Palace in front, although Wolves were back on terms nine minutes later through substitute Hwang Hee-chan.
Eze restored the home side’s advantage time with a smart finish from inside the box before Edouard added a third on 84 minutes after a neat one-two with Jean-Phillipe Mateta.
Matheus Cunha pulled one back for the visitors deep into stoppage time, but Palace were home and dry by that stage and deservedly held on for their first home win of the season.
And for Eze, who was the subject of strong interest from Manchester City during the transfer window, the Wolves result was a chance to show the Selhurst faithful more of what is to come as Palace climbed up to seventh spot.
He said: “We wanted to put in a good performance for the fans.
“We showed that today what we’re capable of – and playing at home it’s a fortress, so we know we can do it.
“I’m always confident and always believe in myself.
“Of course, it’s always nice to score and it gives you a boost, so I hope it continues.
“I think it’s a good start. There’s always improvements and things we want to work on, but we’ll take it and build on it going forward.”
Eze now turns his attention to England’s upcoming double header with Ukraine and Scotland where the 25-year-old will be looking to pick up his second cap.
And Palace manager Roy Hodgson, himself a former Three Lions boss, believes the Palace attacker has all the attributes to shine on the international stage.
Hodgson said: “He’s a rightly important player for us.
“Hopefully he’ll be a good player for England going forward as well because he does have exceptional talent – and in the second-half we saw much more of that talent.
“He got on the ball a lot more, he got into dangerous positions and he did then what he’s capable of doing, making life very difficult for opposing defenders.
“I was delighted for him that he played so well in the second-half and even more delighted he got his first goal.”
Crystal Palace return to Premier League action after the internationals with a trip to Aston Villa on 16 September.
