Crystal Palace: Patrick van Aanholt is hugely important

Football FanCast

By Billy Meyers

Published Feb 27, 2020

The much-maligned Patrick van Aanholt is actually more important to Crystal Palace than people think.

One Crystal Palace player who has come in for some criticism this season is Patrick van Aanholt.

The Netherlands international was slammed by supporters on Twitter for his display in the 4-0 defeat to Tottenham earlier this season, while they were also livid with his performance in the 2-0 defeat to Leicester at Selhurst Park.

His craft as an attacking full-back is well documented - no defender has scored more Premier League goals for the Eagles, with three of them coming this season, while no defender has scored more than his tally of 20 Premier League goals since his first strike in November 2015.

However, he can often be poor defensively - you only need to read the fans' responses to his showing in the aforementioned game against Leicester to see what they think of that side of the Dutchman's game.

However, he is more important to Roy Hodgson than they think.

A statistic has emerged revealing just how pivotal the former Chelsea man is to the south Londoners.

The Premier League wrote an article on the 29-year-old, in which they revealed that Hodgson's side have won eight of their 20 Premier League games with Van Aanholt in the side this season, picking up 1.35 points per game.

Alarmingly, and also contrastingly, they haven't won a single one of their seven fixtures without the left-back, picking up just 0.86 points per game.

His style of play - which often seems too attack-focused with little regard for defensive positioning - can often come in for some criticism as seen above, although it is abundantly clear that Van Aanholt makes all the difference for Crystal Palace.

You can read more on this and other top stories via our Crystal Palace News page.

His vital contributions were seen in the Eagles' last outing against Newcastle, where he smashed in a fine freekick and also helped keep a clean sheet to secure all three points for his side, on a day where the likes of Jordan Ayew and Christian Benteke hadn't packed their shooting boots.