Eddie Nketiah is hoping to get more playing time after scoring his first Crystal Palace goal in the 4-1 win over Aston Villa in the Premier League on Tuesday night, Afrosport reports.
The England forward, of Ghanaian heritage, came on for Senegal winger Ismaila Sarr, who netted a brace, and scored the final goal of the game in added time.
Nketiah has failed to nail a starting spot in the Palace squad since joining from Arsenal last summer, making the XI on only six occasions. While he wishes to play more, he acknowledges it is down to the manager.
“I can’t influence the manager’s decision in terms of selection, but I try to do it on every day in the grass by working hard,” he told the club website.
“Obviously, I would like to play more minutes, but that’s life. The team have been doing well and I’ve just got to keep doing my thing when I get opportunities. Like I said, hopefully I can go on a nice run now.”
A first Palace @premierleague goal for Eddie Nketiah ❤️#CPFC // #CRYAVL pic.twitter.com/lPGyeuTqQH
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) February 26, 2025
Reflecting on scoring his first goal, Nketiah said: “It’s nice to get the win and get my first one in the Premier League [for Palace]. It’s a good feeling, and nice to obviously share that moment with my family and friends and teammates, so I’m really delighted.
“[The manager said] at half-time to keep going. Obviously, we had moments, obviously slight tactical tweaks we had to make, but yeah, it was really just to be decisive and ruthless in the boxes.”
Meanwhile, Palace manager Oliver Glasner, reacting to Nketiah’s status in the team said: “Everybody can see his effort in every single training, and we were talking about it quite often: the toughest time is when you’re injured, and the second toughest time is when you work hard, and the manager doesn’t give you many minutes to show it.
“Then, you have to be patient and always be positive, and he gets all the support from the whole staff, from every single player. When I put him on, I said to him: ‘OK, Eddie, you will score the fourth goal, you deserve it so much’ – and he did it.”
Palace have won five of their last seven games and have move up to 13th on the table.
