Crystal Palace forward Jordan Ayew has shed light on the inspiration behind his spectacular long-range goal against Everton at Goodison Park, which ended in a 1-1 draw during Week 25 of the Premier League.
In the 66th minute, Ayew capitalized on a setup by Jean-Philippe Mateta, unleashing a powerful effort from outside the penalty area to break the deadlock. However, despite Ayew’s brilliance, Amadou Onana’s late header for Everton left both teams with a point each.
Speaking after the match, Ayew shared insights with Crystal Palace’s website, revealing that his pre-game shooting practice had a significant impact on his performance and instilled the confidence to take a chance from distance and beat Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
“In the warm-up, I scored maybe five in a row, so I had a good feeling today! Sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don’t go your way, but you still need to keep pushing, and that’s what I’ve been doing throughout my whole career. It comes sometimes. You try, try, try… it could have gone up, but this time it was successful. Today things went well for me. I thank God and I thank the team for the effort they put in. I don’t want to talk too much about my goal, but the most important thing for me is the team, and we’re happy to go home with a point,” Ayew remarked.
While Ayew’s goal marked his first of the 2024 calendar year, he humbly downplayed his individual achievement and commended his teammates for their collective efforts in securing a valuable point from a challenging encounter.
“It’s always complicated to come here. You start off with a game that’s a bit complicated and direct, and you speed up to the challenge and you manage to get a goal, and they equalise on a set-piece. It’s just one where we had to get something out of the game, and we managed to get a point, so we’re happy and move on to the next one,” Ayew reflected.
Ayew and Crystal Palace now turn their attention to their upcoming Premier League fixture against Burnley on February 24, 2024, at Selhurst Park, aiming to secure maximum points and continue their positive momentum in the league campaign.
