Palace striker Zaha glad to be back in the goals

Wilfried Zaha is delighted to see Crystal Palace’s striking practice come to fruition.

The winger made it five goals in as many games with the third in Palace’s 3-1 victory over Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday, while Chelsea loanee Michy Batshuayi scored his second in three matches.

He said on cpfc.co.uk: “The main thing is the three points for the team but I’m glad I could add to the goals. To be honest, I score goals like that all the time in training when we play five-a-side, so it’s nice to finally get a goal like that in a game.

“I was thinking, ‘OK, I can’t chop any more times’, so I just made sure I connected with the ball properly and I’m just happy I scored really. All I’m trying to focus on is scoring goals so I’m buzzing (to have scored so many).

“We’re practising shooting all the time and we’re only going to get better. Over time, we’re showing it on the pitch and getting the goals we need.”

Manager Sean Dyche felt they were below par at St James’ Park but was happier with this performance bar some weak moments in both boxes.

He is determined not to lose the feelgood factor, saying: “It’s a tough one. You lose two and then that makes another story. But we’ve just not been beaten in eight so if you put the two and the eight together you’d actually go, ‘Absolutely terrific’.

“The points return in that run of 10 games, I think it’s 18 points. If you’re talking nearly two points a game in the Premier League, that’s a really, really good amount of points. We know we’ve got Liverpool next, they’re different games, we know that. Beyond that, we’ve got a fair run of games.”

“He knows there’s been some good performers lately,” added Dyche. “It’s entirely up to him.”

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