Eberechi Eze: Nigeria prospect at the double as Crystal Palace silence Aribo’s Southampton

The Anglo-Nigerian was on song twice as the Eagles subdued the Saints on Saturday evening

 

Crystal Palace secured a 2-0 away win over Southampton in Saturday’s English Premier League fixture, with Eberechi Eze bagging a brace.

The Nigeria prospect went into the fixture on the back of his goal as the Eagles dismantled Leeds United 5-1 their last time out.

At the St. Mary’s Stadium, he continued with his impressive displays – finding he net twice in the low-scoring affair.

Palace began on a sluggish note and were fortunate not to have gone behind when Joe Aribo rifled his shot over the bar from close range after profiting from James Ward-Prowse’s corner kick.

Nevertheless, they looked better as the game grew. Michael Olise though he had given the visitors a 15th minute lead, albeit, his strike was chalked off for offside.

Towards the closing stages of the first 45 minutes, the Saints could have drawn the first blood but Theo Walcott drilled his effort wide of the post from 12 yards.

Six minutes before the hour mark, Eze did well to pounce on a rebounded Jordan Ayew effort to poke home past goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu.

Fourteen minutes later, he completed his double after turning away from two defenders before unleashing a piledriver into the bottom corner from 30 yards out.

Southampton came alive after finding themselves two goals behind and were luckless not to find a way back into the game.

At the other end, Ayew missed a golden opportunity to put the contest to bed, but Palace held on to claim all three points and record consecutive English topflight away wins against Southampton for the first time in their history.

With this result, they climbed to 12th in the log having accrued 36 points from 31 league outings in the 2022-23 campaign.

Eze has featured for the England U20 and U21 teams but he is still eligible to play for the Nigeria national team if he chooses.