Ahead of Norwich City’s game against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, we spoke to Matthew Woosnam, who covers the Eagles for The Athletic.
He told canaries.co.uk about the impact of the African Cup of Nations on Patrick Vieira’s side, objectives for the rest of the season, and gave his view on Norwich’s upturn in form.
canaries.co.uk: Cheikhou Kouyate recently won the African Cup of Nations with Senegal. How much of an impact did that tournament have on Crystal Palace’s team?
MW: Jordan Ayew was away with Ghana. He offers so much in terms of pressing the opposition high up the pitch and defending from the front, which is essential in this Patrick Vieira system. As soon as you lose the ball, you’re more at risk than you would be under Roy Hodgson, but at the same time he does need to maybe add more goals to his game.
Michael Olise’s come in whilst he’s been away and he’s really impressed, so it’s going to be a really difficult decision as to who he plays on the right side. I feel like, at the moment, Olise probably edges it, perhaps especially against a team likely to be more vulnerable as Norwich probably are.
Wilfried Zaha being away hasn’t actually had as much of an impact as people might have thought, or certainly as it might had done in previous seasons where the team wasn’t as strong as it is now.
Vieira spoke about it today, he’s very happy with the squad and the strength in depth that they’ve got, certainly in attacking areas.
In all, it didn’t really have a huge impact. Kouyate has probably been one of the best players at Palace this season and his departure is probably one of the more important ones - that defensive midfield number six or number four role.
Will Hughes has come in and done well with Conor Gallagher playing further forward, but Kouyate has really dominated in that midfield and he helps to break up the play so well, release the ball and release the pressure to win the ball back.
I think they missed that and that’s been the major effect of it. He won’t be available, it doesn’t sound like, for this game, so not one for Norwich to worry about.
canaries.co.uk: Have you been surprised by the run that Norwich have been on since December’s defeat to Crystal Palace?
MW: That was a very run-of-the-mill victory, probably one of the easiest wins Palace have had in the Premier League.
It has been surprising that they’ve gone on this mini run and I suppose that’s the impact of a new manager sometimes, isn’t it? They change things up and they find ways of improving their squad and the players they’ve got.
That momentum will be dangerous for Palace and Palace will have to be aware of that and careful not to get drawn in too much from what Norwich have been able to achieve.
canaries.co.uk: For Palace, is it now a case of just trying to stay in the league first and foremost?
MW: The aim is always, first and foremost, to ensure Premier League survival. I don’t think many people are going to be looking over their shoulders.
Perhaps, if this was under Hodgson, then they might have looked over their shoulders, given the defensive nature of those performances, which to some extent left you at risk.
There’s a really good feel-good feeling around the place that makes people really optimistic even though they’re five points worse off than this time last season. People appreciate it’s a transitional season.
Especially given it’s such a transitional season with a new manager, quite a new squad and younger players, people are looking at it and saying that first of all we just need to get to that stage where we’re safe from relegation, and then you can start looking up towards mid-table.
The money from each Premier League position is really important and that can help in the summer with further recruitment.
Realistically, the aim is to avoid relegation, but I think if Palace ended up in 17th, everyone would be legitimately disappointed by the season, given that there was a good period of seven games unbeaten earlier in the season.