One Crystal Palace has earned high praise for his display against Liverpool on Sunday, a fixture that saw Oliver Glasner’s side become the first team to win at Anfield in the Premier League this season.
Crystal Palace put on one of the best performances of their 2023/24 campaign on Sunday, shocking Liverpool by winning 1-0 at Anfield to truly shake up the title race.
Oliver Glasner recorded his first Premier League away win in charge of the Eagles, on a day that saw ‘a first time for everything’ become a bit of a theme.
Palace became the first side to win at Anfield this season, the first team to win and keep a clean sheet at the stadium since 2021 and most prominently, the first club to beat Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool three times at Anfield during his tenure.
Eberechi Eze was to thank for his first-half goal that proved to be decisive in the fixture however, every player deserves equal praise on a day that will be remembered by the Eagles for a long time.
That being said, one figure was heavily lauded for his display on Merseyside and became a topic of discussion in Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer’s group chat.
Adam Wharton earned high praise from Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer for his performance v Liverpool
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, punditry duo Lineker and Shearer had a lot to say about the performance of Adam Wharton, sharing that the Englishman’s performance had been spoken about before making the podcast, with Lineker saying:
“We were all saying in the group chat as we do before these podcasts about Adam Wharton, 20 years old.”
“What a performance, he’s so calm on the ball, doesn’t give it away, never looks flustered, tracked back, looks good going forward, really good all-round game.”
Shearer shared an interesting insight into Blackburn Rovers’ stance on their former player and also echoed Lineker’s praise of the youngster.
“When I was at Blackburn six or seven weeks ago, they were telling me about him. They said they had to sell him for obvious reasons and they felt as if Palace had got a great deal, they needed to get more from him, they said Palace got him on the cheap.”
“I understand why today, you watch him, he’s been really impressive. I thought he ran that midfield today when you consider who he was against and being at Anfield, that’s a pretty big thing. He was absolutely outstanding.”
Adam Wharton has thrived since arriving at Crystal Palace, as seen at Anfield
There aren’t many tests as difficult in the Premier League than playing Liverpool at Anfield, something that Wharton didn’t seem remotely phased by in midfield – you can read more on his performance here.
The 20-year-old was calm, composed and combative to ensure Glasner’s side got the job done on Merseyside, something very few have managed to do in recent years.
Given how much central midfielders go for in England in this climate, acquiring Wharton for just £22m was a stroke of genius from Steve Parish and Roy Hodgson, as seen by his performance against Liverpool and his numbers in general.
As relayed by WhoScored, only Eze and Michael Olise average more key passes per game than the former Championship jewel this season at Palace, telling of the calibre of the player the Eagles signed in January.
Time and time again, Wharton has shown just how high his ceiling is, with him passing the Anfield test with flying colours in arguably one of the best displays from a Palace player this season.
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