Jordan Ayew’s Crystal Palace wondergoal has Premier League strugglers Aston Villa wondering why they ever let him go?
If we’d told you in the stupor of Boxing Day that a Crystal Palace attacker had scored one of the goals of the season in the dying seconds of a London derby clash with West Ham United, you’d have been forgiven for conjuring up images of Wilfried Zaha skipping past flailing limbs like a gazelle on the prairie.
But Palace’s £80 million talisman continues to be overshadowed by a journeyman forward who has been transformed from the picture of mediocrity to a bonafide match-winner.
And as Jordan Ayew left six West Ham defenders trailing in his wake, pirouetting past two on the edge of the box, skipping past Angelo Ogbonna and Fabian Balbuena and lifting a sublime chip into the visitors’ net, it wasn’t just Crystal Palace fans who were left awestruck by a goal that would make even Lionel Messi blush.
It’s fair to say Aston Villa supporters didn’t see many moments like this from Ayew during his 18-month spell in claret and blue between 2015 and 2017.
And with Dean Smith’s relegation-threatened side crying out for a moment of magic like this during a difficult couple of months back in the big time, it’s fair to say the decision to swap Ayew for benchwarming left-back Neil Taylor hasn’t aged well.
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