Crystal Palace journalist Matt Woosnam insists that Christian Benteke was not given the correct amount of service last season.

The Eagles endured a difficult season under manager Roy Hodgson, finishing in the mid-table mediocrity of 14th.

Benteke struggled for goals throughout the first few months of the campaign, scoring just six goals in the first 26 games of the campaign.

The Belgium international then enjoyed a flurry of goals, as he netted four times in his final four appearances of the season, and he has now signed a new two-year contract.

Woosnam thinks that the former Liverpool striker struggled at points because Palace simply decided against putting enough crosses into the box, for the big man in the area.

Of course, Benteke has been prolific previously, scoring 15 goals in 36 games in 2016/17 but since then he scored just six times in three seasons, prior to 2020/21.

And Woosnam said: “I think that was a really interesting one because you look at the reasons behind why he wasn’t scoring and it would be too easy to just point it at the tactics. It wasn’t just that but that definitely played a significant part in it.

“When I analysed the crosses that Palace put in, they crossed the fewest times, I think, of any Premier League club under Roy Hodgson and you look at the goals that he scored in his debut season for Palace and a lot of them were from crosses.

“They weren’t necessarily headers but they were from crosses. Everyone knows how good he is in the air, as well.”

Benteke will be hoping to hit the back of the net this weekend, when Palace take on Chelsea.