LONDON — Eberechi Eze is playing like a man who knows he’s heading into a pivotal summer. After a somewhat sluggish start to the season, the Crystal Palace attacker has scored five goals in his past nine games for club and country.
His latest effort was an important one. A stunning first-time strike from the edge of the penalty area, it helped Palace to a 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday to set up an FA Cup final against either Manchester City or Nottingham Forest next month.
If we are seeing the last few games of Eze in an Eagles shirt, then guiding the club to a first trophy in their 120-year existence would be a fitting way to go. Very few of the thousands of Palace fans who sang and bounced throughout the 90 minutes at Wembley would begrudge him a move should one of the Premier League’s top teams come calling.
It is the nature of English’s football’s top flight. Do well for a Palace or a Brighton & Hove Albion or a Brentford and soon Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal are picking up the phone.
That’s where we are with Eze, and his performance against Villa only served to highlight it even further.
Lifting the FA Cup would come with a place in the UEFA Europa League for Palace. Eze, though, might be looking beyond that.
Villa arrived at Wembley on the back of a narrow exit to Paris Saint-Germain in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. On this evidence, that’s where Eze belongs, too.
Last summer, he saw close friend Michael Olise leave Selhurst Park to sign for Bayern Munich. The France international has been a key part of the team that sits well clear at the top of the Bundesliga table, and it should give Eze the confidence that he can make the same step up.
Not that self belief is in short supply.
It was only on Wednesday against Arsenal that Eze saw a corner arrowed in his direction and caressed a volley in off the post. His goal here was even better.
A tight game until midway through the first half, Ismaïla Sarr found Eze with a pass on the edge of the box. Under pressure from Matty Cash and Marco Asensio, the easy option would have been to take a touch and keep the ball moving. Instead, Eze whipped a right-foot shot across Emiliano Martínez and into the net.
It was a moment that prompted bedlam in the Palace end, but Eze was unmoved. Literally. He stood still, without so much as a smile, while his teammates rushed to congratulate him.
It was a finish of the highest quality. Apparently for Eze, it was the most natural thing in the world.
“I saw the opportunity to shoot, I am always trying my luck, always taking shots,” he said after the match. “We work on this stuff all the time, I’m grateful to God that I have scored today and helped the team.”
Palace manager Oliver Glasner added: “I see this many times in training. It’s such a great finish. Now he comes more into these situations. It’s easy to do this finish at the end of training when someone passes the ball to you and there are no opponents.
“We’ve shown him that very often this space is free, and when he gets the ball there and a free finish, it’s very often a goal. It’s important he comes into these situations.”
Eze’s ability to create moments of magic is one thing, but his work rate is just as important. As well as scoring the opening goal and winning a second-half penalty that Jean-Philippe Mateta fired wide, Eze was tireless in chasing Cash up and down Villa’s right wing.
He was eventually substituted two minutes from time, his job done. He still had the energy to jump off the bench and sprint down the touchline in the 94th minute when Sarr scored his second of the afternoon to wrap up a resounding victory.
There was competition from Sarr, Dean Henderson and Adam Wharton, but it was Eze who was named man of the match as Palace reached their third FA Cup final. The last two ended in defeats to Manchester United in 1990 and 2016. With players like Eze, there is a chance for this one to have a different ending.
“We have shown performances like this all the time,” he said. “We’re not worried or fearful of facing anyone. I trust that we will put in the work and hopefully we can do it.”
Whether this is the end for Eze at Palace remains to be seen.
It will not have gone unnoticed at Manchester United that he’s thriving as a withdrawn forward in Glasner’s 3-4-3 system — the same used by Ruben Amorim. He’s got admirers at Manchester City, too, and scored at the Etihad Stadium earlier this month. In fact, three of his four league goals this season have come against City, Chelsea and Arsenal. They are the type of clubs that will be looking at Eze, along with some of the biggest in Europe.
Approaching his 27th birthday and with two years left on his contract, he’s heading toward the most crucial summer of his career. In leading Palace to the FA Cup final and taking them to the brink of a first major trophy in their history, he will only attract even more attention.
