When Michael Olise drove an inch-perfect cross-field pass to Ebere Eze, he wrote himself into the Palace history books.
It helped, of course, that his partner-in-crime killed the ball with one touch, rounded three defenders and picked out the top corner, but nonetheless Olise had registered another assist – his 10th in the Premier League this season.
In doing so, he became the first Palace player to reach double figures since the inception of the Premier League, and doubled his tally from last season. With two matches to go, he could still eclipse it.
Olise’s 10th assist took him beyond the previous highest-tally, held by Wilfried Zaha in 2016/17 and Wayne Routledge in 2004/05, with nine apiece.
Palace have had plenty of creative forwards capable of opening up an opposition defence during their Premier League tenure. Andros Townsend (2017/18) and Jason Puncheon (2014/15) set up seven goals as they contributed to Palace’s Premier League survival, while James McArthur’s six assists inspired the Eagles during Roy Hodgson’s first full season in 2017/18.
In the 1990s, John Salako, Chris Armstrong and Attilio Lombardo all notched up six assists as each wrote their name into Palace folklore – but Olise (now on 15) has some way to go before matching Wilfried Zaha’s 29 assists in the competition.
