Eberechi Eze was named in Crystal Palace’s starting line-up to face Chelsea on the opening weekend of the Premier League, live on Sky Sports, despite ongoing interest from Tottenham.
Tottenham are in discussions with Palace over a deal as they look to add a new No 10 before the transfer deadline on September 1, and there had initially been doubts over whether he would feature at Stamford Bridge.
Eze has been one of Spurs’ top targets this summer. A bid has not yet been made and Palace value him at £70m, with two years left on his contract.
Sky Sports’ Chris Sutton, speaking at Stamford Bridge, contrasted Eze’s situation with that of Alexander Isak at Newcastle – where he has not featured for the club, or trained alongside his team-mates, since he announced his desire to leave earlier this summer.
“He seems like a good type,” he said. “If the situation with Tottenham happens, it’ll happen. We’ve seen the situation at Newcastle with how Alexander Isak has downed tools and isn’t the most popular person among the Newcastle faithful.
“If you’re Oliver Glasner, you want your best players starting. Eze’s one of those and Palace’s season last season was phenomenal, the best in their history.
“They’ll want to come to Stamford Bridge and get a result, and they stand a better chance of doing that with Eze starting.”
Full line-ups from Stamford Bridge…
Chelsea: Sanchez; James, Acheampong, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Enzo; Neto, Palmer, Gittens; Joao Pedro.
Substitutes: Jorgensen, Gusto, Fofana, Hato, Essugo, Andrey Santos, Estevao, George, Delap.
Crystal Palace: Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell; Sarr, Mateta, Eze.
Subs: Benitez, Clyne, Sosa, Cardines, Devenny, Rak-Sakyi, Lerma, Esse, Edouard.
Sky Sports to show 215 live Premier League games from this season
215 live premier league matches up from 128 this season on Sky Sports
From this season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.
And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games this season will be on Sky Sports.
