Crystal Palace have begun their new era under Patrick Vieira in steady fashion, collecting two points from a possible nine in the Premier League, but some of their star performers have been excelling while on international duty.

Summer signing Marc Guehi was one of those who caught the eye while on duty for his nation, helping the England Under-21s to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Kosovo in their 2023 Euro U21 qualifier. 

New manager Lee Carsley kickstarted his reign in impressive fashion as Rhian Brewster got his first England Under-21 goal after opening the scoring from the penalty spot.

Manchester City's Cole Palmer then scored on his debut via a delightful solo goal, but Guehi, the Three Lions' rock at the heart of defence also played a pivotal part in their success. 

As per SofaScore, Guehi received a match rating of 7.2 out of 10 after marshalling the backline towards a much-deserved clean sheet at Stadium MK.

The Palace centre-back captained his country on the night and put in a dominant performance, winning all three of his aerial duels while achieving an incredible passing accuracy of 92%.

Not all of his passes were simple either, as the former Chelsea academy graduate found a teammate with four of his six attempted long balls. On top of that, Guehi also made five clearances, blocked two shots and had 117 touches.

His magnificent performance helped England's U21s to extend their unbeaten run in European qualifiers to almost 10 years, with their last defeat a 2-1 loss to Belgium in November 2011. This latest victory stretched their unbeaten run to 46 games.

Vieira will be desperate for his new recruit to reproduce this sort of form at Selhurst Park when domestic football resumes.

And, in other news...Forget Ayew: Palace may have their Townsend heir in rarely-seen academy wizard