Nigeria eligible Michael Olise was full of teammate Eberechi Eze after notching a brace in a commanding performance against Manchester United last week.
The Eagles were majestic at both ends of the pitch throughout Monday’s game, with Olise scoring twice and Eze proving a constant menace, as Palace secured their first-ever league double over the visitors with a crushing 4-0 win.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Olise smiled: “I think it’s a good night.
“Obviously, we’ve been working hard and focusing on ourselves and we know what we can bring to the table when we’re at home. The fans were behind us so I just thought: ‘let’s go.’
“It could’ve been [a hat-trick]. Probably [should have been]!”
As for his teammate Eze, Olise noted: “He’s a top player. He’s got quality, dribbling, finishing, everything.
“I think we’ve played together for a whole month now, not as much as we’ve wanted to, but when we do play together, we enjoy it a lot.”
Eze reciprocated that praise, saying of Olise: “He brings a lot [to the team]. You can see from his two goals the quality he has got.
“You want to play with players like this and the quality he has got is incredible, so we enjoy playing together.”
The England international was not surprised by the outstanding nature of Palace’s display on Monday evening, adding: “I think it says a lot. It is a big statement, but we’re not surprised. We know what we’re capable of, we know what we can do.
“The quality we’ve got in the dressing room here is high so we don’t see that as a surprise. We are creating chances. We are attacking, we’re aggressive and we are going to continue to create chances for sure.”
The Eagles remain 14th in the table but are now just three points behind 12th-placed Wolves.
Olise concluded: “Of course, we don’t want to drop off now. We want to continue until the end of the season, keep putting in good performances and see where that leaves us.”
Olise has continued in great in SE25 this season; despite playing just 485 minutes at Selhurst this season in an injury-hit campaign, he has scored six goals and assisted seven, with only Jean-Philippe Mateta bettering his goal contributions tally.
As for his own season, Olise admitted that it has been a frustrating one with the need to recover from long-term injury – but also stressed he remains as hungry as ever to keep improving.
“I think it’s been a bit tough mentally and physically, to keep getting injured,” he said.
“But also, you know that you can come back from it, so you just try and take the positives, try and stay mentally in a good space – and from there, that’s it really. You can’t do much about it. It’s football.
“I think the club helps, obviously, a lot. The physios here and staff, day-to-day ,will help a lot. Obviously, family, friends outside of football [give me support]. And then myself, really.
“Me, personally, I just use every opportunity to try and get better every day – if it’s a little bit, if it’s a lot, whatever the day allows, really. I’m very hungry [to improve].”
In his last 13 Premier League starts, the 22-year-old has 14 goal contributions — nine goals, five assists — and in his last seven league starts, he has now scored seven times.
That lends itself to asking what could have been and what might yet be for Olise and Palace.
United were dominated by the slick, sharp interplay from Olise and Eberechi Eze that has helped to make Palace so enjoyable to watch, so efficient and effective in attack under Glasner since his appointment 11 weeks ago.
Their partnership is burgeoning and had the crowd at Selhurst Park enthralled again. There was once a fear that Palace fans would be deprived of the opportunity to see much of Olise this season – that his injury problems would be too serious and returning to his best too great of a challenge before a potential transfer this summer.
But with a new manager and a refreshing approach, those worst fears have not come to pass.
It may be Olise at his best for an abridged period, not nearly as long as everyone at Palace would prefer, but he has left plenty to cherish, even if these are his final appearances for the club.
