In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Crystal Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta discusses his No 9 role, working with Odsonne Edouard and a summer of speculation...
If there is any Premier League player who knows about waiting and biding his time, it's Crystal Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta. The Eagles striker started his first match in eight months in last weekend's 1-0 win at Manchester United. Since the start of last season, he has started just seven times in the Premier League.
So is Mateta biding his time? It applies to when you play as well. 'You need to run - but also hold the ball up because we have quality midfielders behind us and we need to bring the team up and then combine with them,' adds Mateta. 'It's about creating space, keeping the ball for the likes of Eze and Olise, the technical players.' But the problem is those two players are out injured. Olise has been missing all season while Eze has just been ruled out with a hamstring injury.
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