Crystal Palace stars shine again with Dream Team bosses already plotting for next season
CRYSTAL PALACE are finishing the 2023/24 season in formidable form.
The Eagles’ 3-1 victory over Wolves on Saturday was their fifth win in their last six games.
Only Manchester City have earned more points in the same time frame with Oliver Glasner’s side above even Arsenal in the form table.
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From a Dream Team perspective, it was the usual suspects among the points at Molineux.
Michael Olise (£4.3m) and Jean-Philippe Mateta (£3.2m) scored in quick succession midway through the first half before Eberechi Eze (£4.3m) sealed the win in the second half.
The former banked 14 points as he also registered an assist while his partners in crime notched ten points each.
All three are among the top performers of the Gameweek at the time of writing.
Olise truly is a Dream Team phenomenon.
The 22-year-old has amassed 160 points in just 18 appearances this season.
That works out at an average of 8.9 points-per-game – only Dream Team’s overall top performer Erling Haaland (£7.2m) boasts a better rate among all assets.
Olise has scored ten goals, provided five assists and racked up 35 bonus points in no time at all.
Dream Team bosses should already be thinking about what he could achieve next season if he’s able to avoid injury setbacks.
It’s reasonable to suggest he would have finished among the top five players in the game this term had he not been sidelined for 21 fixtures.
The frustration for the Selhurst Park faithful is that Olise and Eze have not started more games in tandem.
The England international has been available more often but he also missed a month of the campaign through injury in the winter.
Palace’s performances (and results) when the pair play together are on a whole other level, as evidenced by their current surge.
And let’s not underestimate Mateta’s transformation.
The Frenchman looked like a busted flush when he mustered just two goals in 32 outings last season but recently he’s rediscovered the form he showed for Mainz a few years back.
His poacher’s goal against Wolves was his 16th of the campaign in all competitions (13th in the league) and he’s registered six assists as well.
Mateta has been particularly prolific since the start February, scoring 11 goals in 15 games.
This fruitful run has yielded 112 points at an average of 7.5 per fixture.
Any Dream Team manager worth their salt should already be thinking about how many points Palace’s top assets might be able to provide in 2024/25, especially if they continue to improve under Glasner.
Although the club may have a hard time keeping hold of their brightest stars this summer.
Not that gaffers should be wishing away the final Gameweeks of the current campaign of course.
There’s also the huge matter of Dream Team’s Euros fantasy game – which is available to play right now!
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