Crystal Palace: How Roy Hodgson has made Eagles more attacking

Crystal Palace's attack includes (left to right) Andros Townsend, Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha, Michy Batshuayi and Eberechi Eze

Crystal Palace failed to score as many as three goals in any Premier League game last season - but with Saturday's 4-1 victory over Leeds United they have already done so twice in eight games in 2020-21.

Manager Roy Hodgson praised his side's "excellent" attacking play after £19.5m summer signing Eberechi Eze starred in the win at Selhurst Park that took them within three points of the summit.

Last term, only bottom club Norwich City had a worse scoring record in the top flight, but that obvious problem appears to have been overcome - for now at least.

So, what's changed?

Palace's side had the oldest average age in the Premier League last season and Hodgson added younger faces to his squad in the summer.

Attacking midfielder Eze, 22, arrived from Queens Park Rangers and 19-year-old defender Nathan Ferguson came in from West Brom, while under-23s left-back Tyrick Mitchell, 20, was promoted to the first team and 24-year-old Jairo Riedewald has had a revival in midfield.

• Did Leeds striker Bamford have goal ruled out for pointing?

England Under-21 international Eze scored his first Palace goal with a sublime free-kick on Saturday, and Scott Dann's header, a strike by Jordan Ayew and a Helder Costa own-goal made for a comfortable afternoon.

Deployed on the left against Leeds, Eze was free to link up with forwards Jordan Ayew and the in-form Wilfried Zaha, whose assist for his strike partner meant he has already matched his goal involvements of last season after only eight games.

Speaking during the match on BBC Radio 5 Live, former England and West Ham defender Matthew Upson noted how Hodgson has made things more "unpredictable".

"Definitely a slightly different attacking approach from Crystal Palace," he said. "Roy Hodgson has mixed things up.

"Eze, dropping inside, has made a couple of nicely timed runs and when the ball goes into Ayew or Wilfried Zaha he's there to have it back - and then all of a sudden the movement is free from there. I like the look of this for Palace."

• Watch 13 first-round ties on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app this weekend. Find out more here.

Typically, Hodgson's Palace have been known for a rigid structure, but in Eze and Zaha he has two creative talents prepared to break the mould.

Palace created 33 big chances in the Premier League last season, but they have already amassed 12 after eight matches, suggesting livelier attacking play.

However, it also appears the Eagles have been much more clinical this term, averaging 1.5 goals per game compared with 0.8 in 2019-20.

And they have done so with fewer shots - 8.4 per game this season and 9.9 last - meaning their shot-conversation rate has jumped from 8.2% to 17.9%. After scoring four in a match for the first time in 46 Premier League fixtures, they are outperforming their expected goals by 0.5 per game.

It appears Palace and Hodgson are building nicely towards the future - though this could be the former England manager's final term at Selhurst Park.

The 73-year-old, whose playing career started at Palace in 1963, has had spells managing 20 different sides over a 44-year coaching career and he signed a contract extension until next summer in March.

Despite ending last season with their lowest points tally since his appointment in September 2017, Palace find themselves close to the leaders heading into November's international break.

With their new streak of youth, they now appear much better positioned to keep pace.

"It was a good win against a team that has started so well and has a style of play which is different to what we're used to seeing. In terms of our attacking play, we were excellent," Hodgson said.

"It was important we had the tactical discipline that we had and important we played as well on the ball as we did. We took our opportunities well and were very good value for those four goals. I think they would have wanted to flood our defence more but that was stopped by the work-rate of our forwards.

"I thought [Eze's] whole performance was very good. You couldn't fault him in any way. The goal for me was the icing on the cake.

"We aren't the highest-scoring team in the league. We never have been and perhaps never will be, but it's important to score more than the opposition."

• Video games: How are they helping overcome grief?

• Ultra-processed foods: Find out which ones are actually good for you