Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen is continuing to impress at the World Cup with Denmark, with the centre-back solid once again on Saturday despite defeat against France.

The former Lyon man has been a mainstay in Patrick Vieira's side since joining in 2021, making 52 appearances, in which he has contributed one goal and three assists.

His strong performances in the Premier League this season, which have seen him average a solid 6.91 rating from WhoScored, meant that it was perhaps always likely that he would start in Kasper Hjulmand's defence in Qatar.

Although Denmark now face a battle to get out of their group, after drawing to Tunisia and suffering a narrow defeat against the holders, Andersen's displays will only encourage Vieira ahead of his Premier League return next month.

Saturday saw him up against the frightening Kylian Mbappe for France and while the PSG star would hit a match-winning double, the Palace defender can be proud of his performance.

As per Sofascore, Andersen would earn a superb 7.3/10 rating for his display, with only Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Andreas Christensen rated higher from those in Hjulmand's side.

The 26-year-old defender earned plaudits from his manager last season for his ability on the ball and he emphasised that quality against the holders on Saturday afternoon.

Vieira said:

"He is massively important. Joachim played in France, he played in Italy, he was in the Premier League last year. He has this experience of moving around and going to a new club.

"When you want to have possession and you have a centre-back who is really comfortable having the ball at his feet it's quite important."

During the 90 minutes against France, Andersen would lose possession just four times, which was the second-fewest of any player on the pitch, while he completed 92% of his passes and even popped up with an assist for Christensen's equaliser.

He also completed six long balls and six clearances during the game, which was more than any other player bar Christian Eriksen, who also contributed six long balls in the game.

It was another impressive display from Andersen against the world champions and if he performs well again against Australia in their next fixture, the Danes still have a good chance of progressing to the knockout stage, should they earn three points and France beat Tunisia.

If the centre-back continues to catch the eye on the world stage, then the Eagles could be in line to make a big profit on their centre-back in the near future, given they paid just £17m to sign him last year.