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Team of the Week: Crystal Palace’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka shines in season opener
For many Premier League supporters without an in-depth knowledge of Crystal Palace, Aaron Wan-Bissaka was probably best known for being a cheap defensive option in fantasy football – until thi🔯s weekend.
After his sterling displaౠy in Palace’s 2-0 victory ove๊r newly-promoted Fulham, the 20-year-old defender is rightly drawing mass accolades and receiving the recognition he deserves as one of England’s brightest young defenders.
“I thought he was excellent, both defensively and offensively.”
Matched up against another fellow English starlet, 18-year-old left winger Ryan Sessegnon, Wan-Bissaka excell🦹ed and neutralised the attacker all match long– a feat which was revealed in the right back’s match statistics.
According to Opta, Wan-Bissaka made four tackles, six clearances, four interceptions, and one block at Craven Cottage. These contributions were vital as Palace kept a🌱n opening-day clean sheet, and Wan-Bissaka’s di♊ligent tracking of Sessegnon denied Fulham the chance at goal.
Perhaps Sessegnon’s most dangerous trait is his ability to drift into goalscoring positions and slot home rebo♒unds or low crosses, and there were plenty of opportunities on Saturday as goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey made a number of saves from theℱ shots of Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Normally, Fulham supporters woul🌜d expect the 18-year-old to be at hand to slot home the resu♚lting scraps, yet at every ocassion it was instead Wan-Bissaka who intelligently cleared the danger.
In addition, the 20-year-old defender provided some integr♋al attacking contributions, recording 69 touches (the most of any Palace player) a🀅nd supplying the composed assist for Wilfried Zaha’s second half goal.
Wan-Bissaka shrugged off a chal🐠lenge from Mitrovic, strode past a flat-footed Sessegnon, and slipped Zaha clean through to make it 2-0, a wonderful, driving run that sealed the match for th💝e Eagles.
In all, the young Englishman played a stellar match and was one of Crystal Palace’s standout performers, staking his claim for a place iᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ🦂ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚn the team of the week and perhaps an England call-up later this year.