BBC pundit says Crystal Palace have an ‘incredibly impressive’ player in their ranks – Zaha aside

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Crystal Palace ace Cheikhou Kouyate has been named in Garth Crooks’ latest Premier League Team of the Week.

The 31-year-old played as a central midfielder for much of his time at Selhurst Park, but a spate of injuries over the summer meant he was redeployed in defence.

Kouyate has done so well at centre-back that he has cemented a place in the Palace back line, making 27 Premier League starts this season.

Roy Hodgson’s charges were in league action on Monday evening, taking on Everton and leaving Goodison Park with a point in a 1-1 draw.

Kouyate was caught out with his positioning a couple of times but put in a decent performance overall, winning possession six times and making one key block against the Toffees.

“The way this lad has adjusted from midfield to centre-back for Crystal Palace has been incredibly impressive,” Crooks wrote on BBC Sport.

“The Senegal international has been performing in this position for some time now and I have been reluctant to select the player in my team of the week because of the outstanding performances of others.

“However, against Everton, Cheikhou Kouyate was quite brilliant and played a major part in Crystal Palace achieving a well-earned point.”

Palace currently sit 12th in the table on 38 points and are next in action at home to Chelsea on Saturday evening.