Underwhelming Crystal Palace beat Fredrikstad on European debut as Eagles miss Eze spark | OneFootball

Crystal Palace and their fans would maybe have hoped for a slightly more exciting game for their European debut, but will be more than happy with the 1-0 win over Norwegian side Fredrikstad.

Despite it being Palace’s first foray into European football, events on the pitch were almost overshadowed by the major news engulfing the club. That is of course the strong rumours that Eberechi Eze will be joining Arsenal and is due to have his medical with the Gunners imminently.

Unsurprisingly, the Englishman did not start, or play any part, in what would have been his last ever game for the Eagles.

Due to the speculation, and wanting to quell the noise, the club declined to even bring him out to wave goodbye to the home fans.

Marc Guehi started, even though he is also in the midst of heavy transfer links to reigning Premier League champions Liverpool.

The mood at Selhurst Park was atypical, and has been for some weeks. The club have had monumental success on the pitch, winning both the FA Cup and Community Shield in the space of the last three months, but it has been against the backdrop of the UEFA ruling to relegate them from the Europa League for violating multi-club ownership rules.

When it seemed that debacle had died down and the club had accepted their Conference League fate, they then had to deal with speculation about two of their best players being poached. Eze and Guehi make up two of the club’s best three players. It seems Adam Wharton will stay at the club for now, but it remains to be seen how Oliver Glasner will deal with the loss of such salient players.

On the pitch it was a slow game, bereft of many chances for either team, although Fredrikstad punched above their weight. The Norwegian side remained competitive for the entire 90, despite one of their fans telling me they would happily take a ‘4-0 loss’ prematch.

For some context, the visitors are eighth in their domestic league, which is currently led by Bodo/Glimt.

Palace controlled proceedings and were never under much duress defensively, but they missed a certain player at the other end of the pitch.

Justin Devenny and Borna Sosa were lively without being too threatening, but Palace missed the refined touch of Eze. It speaks to a wider concern Glasner must have. This team have achieved special feats, but they are a fairly average squad littered with some world-beaters. Take them out of the team, and Palace lack cutting edge.

But they found some in this game when the ever-dangerous Jean-Philippe Mateta headed past Martin Borsheim in the 54th minute. Palace won a throw in near the left corner flag and when the ball fell to Will Hughes, he let fly with a volley from the edge of the box. Mateta was placed within the six-yard area and headed on from the shot, wrong-footing the Norwegian goalkeeper to give Palace the lead.

The goal was enough to see the Eagles through to the end of the game. They will go to Norway next week knowing they are just one step away from playing in the Conference League.

They will have to play it without Eze, but their fans will have confidence, and justifiably so, that they can win the whole competition.