February 17 2020

Wilfried Zaha

Crystal Palace attacker Wilfried Zaha reckons their ageing squad can be seen as a positive.

The starting XI in their defeat to Everton last time out was Palace's oldest ever in the Premier League, with an average age of 30 years 101 days.

Manager Roy Hodgson has spoken of his frustration in not being able to bring in young talent over the past two transfer windows.

But Croydon-raised Zaha, who came out of one of best football academies in England, believes his experienced teammates can get the Eagles out of a slump which has seen them drop to just six points off relegation.

"We do have some youngsters coming through like Brandon [Pierrick] which is nice to see," he said to Premier League Productions. "But at the same time, you can look at it both ways.

"People can say we have the oldest squad, but at the same time we have the most experienced. People who have played in the Champions League and people who have done it for years. It just depends on how you look at it.

"It doesn’t worry me at all because I play with these people day in, day out and I’ve got absolute trust in them.

"The December and January period was hard with so many games. I’m not the oldest but my body feels like I’ve been through the most. I feel like we’re just in a rough patch but we’ll get through it."

Palace have scored the fewest in the Premier League and Zaha is looking to add to his three goals for the remainder of the campaign.

He added: "Hopefully in this part of the season, I will get more goals. It’s all I’m lacking right now and that’s what people should expect from me."