Palace Edge Fredrikstad In European Debut

It was mixed emotions at Selhurst Park as a new chapter in the history of the club got underway, but without their talisman Ebere Eze who signed for Arsenal in lead up to this important play-off game.

MATCH INFORMATION

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 3 Tyrick MITCHELL, 17 Nathaniel CLYNE, 21 Romain ESSE, 26 Chris RICHARDS, 31 Remi MATTHEWS, 44 Walter BENITEZ, 49 Jesurun RAK-SAKYI, 59 Rio CARDINES

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 1 Oeystein OVRETVEIT, 2 Kennedy OKPALEKE, 5 Simen RAFN, 18 Ludvig BEGBY, 25 Ole LANGBRAATEN, 31 Elias Johnsson SOLBERG, 40 Eirik GRANAAS

POST GAME QUOTES

OLIVER GLASNER

“Goal number one is winning the game and of course you always want to win four or five. We could see it was not so easy. It was the game we expected, they played very deep and defended the box very well. There was not a lot of space.

We had four or five clear chances, we hit the post twice, so we were not efficient with our chances and then it is not that easy. In the end taking the win in the first game in Europe is good.

We are still at the start of the season. A second clean sheet in a row and a win, so we are on track.”

JEAN-PHILIPPE MATETA

“Very happy to be the first player to score for Palace in a European cup. I saw the ball in the box and I did my job. I was ready if the ball came to me, to touch it and to score. I got into the right body position to the goal and I hoped to score and yes very happy.

They played very defensive and it was hard for us and they did not give us gaps. they defended really well. We scored in the second half and now we need to go there and win again.”

MATCH STATISTICS

TEB VERDICT

On a night that really should have been a celebration, there was some disappointment in the air with the news of Ebere Eze signing for Arsenal very raw heading towards kick off.

Perhaps there was an effect on the pitch as well as while the Eagles secured a first leg win in this play-off to take to Norway, it should really have been more. They struggled to break down the low block that was in front of them but created enough chances to make the second leg a little easier than it otherwise could be.

It will be a difficult trip next week to secure safe passage into the league phase and Oliver Glasner is very aware of that, but the undercurrent of the need for new recruits to be added before the transfer window closes, along with the very real threat of losing Marc Guehi is clear for all to see.

Notable individual performances on the night from Marc Guehi, Will Hughes, and Jean-Philippe Mateta.

UPCOMING FIXTURES