Ghana star Jeffery Schlupp says a pre-match discussion with Jordan Ayew led to his opening goal against Burnley, which set Palace on their way to an important three points on the road.
Schlupp latched on to Ayew’s ball across the face of goal and prodded home, something the two had discussed prior to the match.
“We literally spoke before game,” Schlupp revealed in his post-match interview. “He said: ‘Just make sure you come in at back post and I’ll look for you.’
“As soon as I saw him win ball back and run into the box I just put my head down and just literally ran towards back-post, hoping he would pull it across and he did. I just gambled and it managed to be the perfect ball.
“I just thought to put my head down, trust Jordan to put it across box and he did. We managed to get the timing right and it was perfect.”
It was Schlupp’s fourth career goal against Burnley, and set Palace en route to an important three points on the road.
“I don’t know to be fair – someone did mention it to me before the game so I thought: ‘You know what, why not add to it?!’” Schlupp said of his record against the Clarets.
“It was probably a typical old-fashioned away performance. We were under pressure for a lot of the game. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. They played some good football to be fair.
“We knew we just had to be patient and take our chances as we did today, so it was a perfect away win.”
Tyrick Mitchell added Palace’s second – his second career goal for the club – and Schlupp says it is a sign of his hard work paying off.
“Just at end there – you wouldn’t think [it was only his second goal] with that finish! We get on him a lot to get more involved with the attacking play, to get some assists and some goals and he’s taken that on board and done that today with a great finish.”
With Ebere Eze making his return and providing the assist for the second goal, Schlupp says Palace can build from this strong start to the season once the squad is back to full fitness.
“Everyone knows that we have had some troubles with injuries this season,” he said. “Everyone is final starting to get fit, with Michael Olise coming back next week hopefully.
“We know the qualities that Ebs has, so it is very important to get him on the pitch, get him some more minutes and get him match fit again.
“You can see what he does at the end: he attracts the attention, slides it to the side and puts it on a plate for T.”
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