Right-back remains on the agenda at Leeds United this week, but for a slightly different reason. When anyone thinks of Crystal Palace the same player comes to mind first: Wilfried Zaha.
At 29, the Selhurst Park talisman may be coming to the realisation he will never get a repeat of his 2013 transfer to a Premier League giant. Zaha may just have to accept he’s a Palace legend adored in Croydon and enjoy that fact.
The reason why that long-expected move to England’s top table survived transfer window after transfer window was Zaha’s outright quality. The forward may be considered inconsistent, but on his day he has been outstanding for the Eagles and remains their chief threat in any match.
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He also plays off the left wing and that’s why Rasmus Kristensen is under the microscope again. The Denmark international is going to have arguably one of his toughest days of the season this weekend.
If Zaha is on it, as he arguably was for United’s last visit in April, he’s among the very best attackers in the division. Leeds, somehow, kept a clean sheet in the spring, picking up a vital point under sustained pressure from Patrick Vieira’s side.
On that night, Zaha would fire off more shots than anyone (seven), more on target than anyone (five), create more shooting actions than anyone (nine) and deliver more progressive ball carries than anyone (11). In short, he was a menace and Luke Ayling had a tough night.
At the time, LeedsLive’s player rating said: “As rough a ride as Wilfried Zaha can give Premier League full-backs, and Ayling had a lot of work to do, he trod the line well all things considered. Yes, there were fouls, but under the pressure of a moaning home crowd, the right-back did pretty well with Zaha when you look at the one vs ones he was faced with.”
Ayling would make the joint-most tackles for Leeds (six), the most interceptions (five), the most progressive passes (nine) and the joint-most fouls (four). The full-back was pretty good on a night he had Zaha playing out of his skin.
Had the former Arsenal man played as well from the bench on Sunday as he did at Brentford last month, that performance against Zaha would have brought the Kristensen debate to the boil once more. However, the Dane was possibly at his Leeds best against Aston Villa and Ayling was below average in his cameo.
It’s Kristensen’s shirt, fitness permitting, for now, and he is going to need to be at his best on Sunday because Zaha’s bringing more than 20,000 followers calling for a free-kick every time he gets touched.
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