Premier League football is back after the international break in which we saw three home nations qualify for the 2016 European Championships.
Wales, Northern Ireland, and England all secured their passage to the big party in France next summer. The Republic of Ireland could make it four out of five if they can navigate the play-offs in November.
Up until now Palace has never really had a vast selection of players who have been good enough to play for their respective countries. Now we have an array of talent that do just that.
Joe Ledley (and his dance moves!), Wayne Hennessey and Jonny Williams are part of a successful Welsh squad that has made history by qualifying for the Euros, and in Yohan Cabaye we have a Frenchman who is hoping to earn a place in the French squad as hosts.
https://youtu.be/IXUuKL2699I
Elsewhere we have Chung-yong Lee who is the captain of South Korea, Yannick Bolasie is a standout player for DR Congo, James McArthur is another regular in the Scotland side, and our captain Mile Jedinak is also the skipper of Australia.
It is not often Palace can boast about the wealth of international players we have and the rise of the club has some part to play in that.
The next step is to get some of the deserving Palace players into Roy Hodgson’s England squad. Whether it will happen is another matter.
Palace return to action this weekend looking to maintain their impressive start to the season again Slaven Bilic’s West Ham United.
It is a team I am wary of, they have seemed to perform really well away from home this season, and back at Upton Park they have been the complete opposite. They have some good attacking options in the shape of Victor Moses and Dimitri Payet which could cause us damage if we are not switched on at the back.
Last season under Sam Allardyce they left South London with all three points, so they cannot be underestimated. Given our current form another home win could be on the cards. Last season we were not good enough at Selhurst, and although we have lost at home to Arsenal and Manchester City, we have beaten sides such as West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa, both of who we lost to at Selhurst last season.
If we take the recent West Brom game as an example it looks as though the demons of Selhurst Park could be a thing of the past. The game against Tony Pulis’s side was probably our most complete performance at home in a good two years.
We had everything that day. Composure on the ball, attacking threat with the likes of Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie, and we had solidity at the back although West Brom rarely tested Scott Dann and Brede Hangeland.
With West Ham next to visit, we have to make sure we get a certain level of consistency that we can take with us for the rest of the season. Away from home we have looked comfortable in our set-up, and teams know that we can cause them plenty of problems on the counter-attack, but at home teams have come to try and stifle us and on occasions it has worked.
West Brom tried to stifle us two weeks ago, and for a moment I thought it was going to work but with our new-found conductor in midfield we managed to open up the Baggies and get the opening goal.
The first goal in this weekend’s encounter is going to be crucial. If we manage to nick it, I am confident we could go on and win the game. If it is the Hammers, it could well be a frustrating afternoon.
