Eberechi Eze’s return after long injury lay-off good news for Crystal Palace

Eberechi Eze’s playing return was arguably the one positive to come out of Crystal Palace’s 2-1 loss to Aston Villa in SE25 this afternoon.

The South Londoner had been out with a ruptured Achilles since May.

But the 23-year-old playmaker came on for Luka Milivojevic on the hour mark as he gained his first competitive game minutes under Patrick Vieira.

“It was good to have him on the pitch but at the same time we know that he has got a long way to go,” said Eagles boss Vieira. “But this was a step forward.

“We just have to keep working with him. We’ll have to see how he goes week after week. He’s making some good progress and that is good for us as a football club.”

read also:Haaland nets on return from injury as Dortmund go top in Germany

Vieira was unable to give a timescale on how long Joachim Andersen will be missing.

The Danish international did not feature with James Tomkins coming in alongside Marc Guehi.

Asked about Andersen’s planned return date, Vieira said: “We don’t know yet. He will do more exams tomorrow and we’ll find out maybe on Monday morning.”