‘Jeez’: Joel Ward left stunned by Crystal Palace teammate after 1-0 win, thinks he was ‘quality’

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Crystal Palace started off their new Premier League campaign with a win and captain Joel Ward was left massively impressed over the performance of one player.

It was a relatively easy win for Crystal Palace as they won 1-0, and the club would look even better with more signings to help improve them.

They beat newly-promoted Sheffield United and one player shone above the rest for the Eagles. New signing Jefferson Lerma shone and also picked up the Man of the Match award.

One player who was massively left impressed by the midfielder, who the Eagles snapped up on a free transfer, was Joel Ward.

Joel Ward praises Jefferson Lerma after amazing debut performance

It was great to see the Columbian midfielder perform so well on his Premier League debut for Crystal Palace yesterday.

Speaking to the media at Crystal Palace, club captain Joel Ward laughed as he said: “Jeez! It was a solid performance from Jefferson. He broke up play, he won his battles, and then his quality on the ball shone through as well.”

It truly was a top performance and he could be the key to Crystal Palace having an amazing season in the Premier League.

Lerma played 90 minutes, won six of his 11 ground duels and 12 of his 13 aerial duels. He also managed to make three tackles and one interception.

Hopefully the good performances from the Columbian continue across the season. If they do, they will massively help the Eagles challenge for a top half finish.

Lerma also helps free attacking talent Eberechi Eze and this is great as the player flourished towards the end of last season. Having Lerma protecting behind him should make him even better.