The Belgian has scored once since making a move from Premier League rivals Liverpool.
Crystal Palace’s Christian Benteke celebrates scoring his first goal for the club
Alan Pardew has explained to the Daily Mirror that his Crystal Palace side need to concentrate on their delivery as, if they can get that right, they have a striker who opponents cannot cope with.
The Eagles spent £27m on bringing Christian Benteke to Selhurst Park in the summer, according to the Mirror, and while he was unable to open his account in his first two appearances, he put that right in their game against Middlesbrough when he broke the deadlock on the way to a 2-1 win for his new side.
And with Benteke’s goal at the Riverside Stadium coming after the Belgian leapt in the air to meet a floated Wilfried Zaha cross, Pardew explained that putting a dangerous ball into the box is all the rest of the team need to do if the 25-year-old is in the mix.
“It was such a great moment to see that ball go in. You knew that was a golden opportunity for him,” he told the Mirror.
“So, if we can get that kind of delivery for him, he is almost impossible to mark in those situations.
“His scoring percentage level and his record, I can’t see it going backwards.”
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew
With Palace’s biggest problem last season arguably being the lack of goals that came from their strikers, Pardew will be hoping that the floodgates do now open for the former Liverpool man.
Although his spell at Anfield was underwhelming – though he did still score nine league goals in 29 games, which is a decent return given that he only started 14 times – his time with Aston Villa demonstrated what a lethal goalscorer he can be.
And Pardew is confident that if the rest of the team create chances – which is always likely with the likes of Zaha and Jason Puncheon in their ranks – then Benteke will have no problem replicating that kind of strike-rate once again during his time with Palace.
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