Ghana and Crystal Palace forward, Jordan Ayew, has lifted the lid on what led his long-range effort against Everton at Goodison Park in Palace’s 1-1 draw in Week 25 of the Premier League.
Ayew opened the scoring in the 66th minute with a very good effort from outside the penalty area after he was set up by Jean-Phillipe Mateta but it was not enough to hand the Eagles the win as Amadou Onana’s late header left the two teams with a point.
After the match, Ayew spoke to Crystal Palace’s website and revealed that the pre-game shooting practice proved beneficial to him and handed him the confidence to take aim from range and beat Everton goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford.
“In the warm-up, I scored maybe five in a row, so I had a good feeling today! Sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don’t go your way, but you still need to keep pushing, and that’s what I’ve been doing throughout my whole career.
It comes sometimes. You try, try, try… it could have gone up, but this time it was successful. Today things went well for me.
I thank God and I thank the team for the effort they put in. I don’t want to talk too much about my goal, but the most important thing for me is the team, and we’re happy to go home with a point.”
Ayew’s goal was his first of the 2024 calendar year but despite getting good reviews for the strike, he played down his effort and praised his team mates for their efforts in leaving a tough game with something in hand.
“It’s always complicated to come here. You start off with a game that’s a bit complicated and direct, and you speed up to the challenge and you manage to get a goal, and they equalise on a set-piece.
It’s just one where we had to get something out of the game, and we managed to get a point, so we’re happy and move on to the next one.”
Ayew and Crystal Palace will have another opportunity to get the full stack of points when they face Burnley in the Premier League on February 24, 2024 at Selhurst Park.