Wilfried Zaha hit his 50th Premier League goal to inspire Crystal Palace to a famous victory against Manchester City this past weekend, while Mohamed Salah followed up his record-breaking showing against Manchester United with a rare goalless performance against Brighton & Hove Albion.
In France, Wahbi Khazri stuck an outrageous goal from 70 yards and Andy Delort delivered an inspired display to help Nice to victory against Angers.
Palace’s 2-0 victory at Manchester City — a victory underpinned by African talents — was the standout result of the weekend across European football.
Six African players were on show for Patrick Vieira‘s side, as they took three points against the reigning champions, who had Aymeric Laporte sent off at the end of the first half.
While Conor Gallagher was the game’s outstanding individual, Zaha delivered once of those performances in which opposition defences struggle to contain him; Zaha married his physical qualities with a sharp poaching sense and looked exactly the major talent that Europe’s biggest clubs should have moved for a year or two ago.
He opened the scoring after six minutes, capitalising on momentary lethargy from Laporte, producing speedy interplay with Gallagher, then sending the ball beyond Ederson for his 50th Premier League goal.
“This may not be massive in the world of football compared to what others have done,” Zaha wrote on his social handles after the match, acknowledging his half-century of Premier League goals.
“But to me this milestone is massive. Where I’ve come from my only dream was to get to the opportunity to do what I love so I’m so thankful.”
City had not conceded a goal in the Premier League at home this season, and it set the tone for Zaha’s tussle with Laporte — the Spain centre-back and teammate Ruben Dias thrown into disarray by the Ivorian’s aggressive hassling and willingness to put both defenders under pressure.
“It was about getting in their faces and not letting them play,” Zaha said.
“We know how good they are, we wanted to show them what we could do.
“I scuffed it but a goal is a goal. I was just buzzing to see it go in so I was happy.”
As well as taking competing physically with Dias and Laporte, Zaha also sought to test City’s high line — the hosts saved by the offside flag on one occasion as the Ivory Coast international bore down on Ederson’s goal.
Zaha made further decisive contributions.
Laporte got a little too physical before the break and brought the attacker down as he sought to break through yet again; referee Andre Marriner duly dismissed the pleading centre-back as the contest further turned in the visitors’ favour.
Zaha then was at the centre of a ruck between the two sets of players at the break, with Bernardo Silva also attempting to neutralise the attacker with an overly committed challenge.
City had their chances after the break, but Zaha then was influential in Palace’s second goal — showcasing his excellent technique and playing in Gallagher to take the contest beyond the Sky Blues.
There’s credit to be attributed across the park for Palace — Cheikhou Kouyate‘s pressing in midfield was pivotal, while Marc Guehi made a series of fine defensive contributions — but it’s the relationship between Gallagher and Zaha that could see Palace finish inside the top half.
“Gallagher brings a lot of energy and I needed people to link up with,” Zaha said, lauding his teammate.
“It makes a massive difference when he helps out.
“I feel like we have had a threat but the difference now is that we keep the ball from the back and build and make our chances.
“We are exploiting our talent.”
Post-match, Zaha put pressure on social media companies to take action against online abusers after he was the victim of racist messages in the aftermath of his showing against the champions.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, there were mixed fortunes for the African players on display.
For Salah, Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield was a game to forget.
Less than a week after he had smashed a hat-trick past Manchester United in the Reds’ 5-0 victory at Old Trafford — breaking a swathe of records in the process — Salah drew a blank against the Seagulls to end a run of 10 games in all competitions in which he had scored.
Even though Salah didn’t get among the goals, Sadio Mane registered his sixth goal of the league campaign to give the Reds a 2-0 lead heading towards the break, and could have had another only for VAR to intervene.
Few Liverpool fans would have heard of Enock Mwepu fans at the season’s start, but they’ll certainly know of him now after he netted a stunning effort to silence Anfield in the 41st minute.
Meeting Solly March’s cut-back, Mwepu, free in a pocket of space, kept his head down and struck a delightful first-time effort from 25 yards that dipped into the goal above Alisson.
Leandro Trossard equalised 25 minutes from time, as the Reds dropped two precious home points, and Jurgen Klopp will also be concerned by yet another injury setback for Naby Keita, who hobbled off with a suspected hamstring problem.
There was also disappointment on the blue half of Merseyside this weekend, with Everton falling to a poor 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday.
Despite an abject performance, there were positives for Alex Iwobi, who netted his first Premier League goal in 24 appearances, having last previously scored against Wolves in January, and Ivory Coast international Jean-Philippe Gbamin.
The latter has endured an injury nightmare since arriving in England in the summer of 2019, and this was only his second ever start for the Toffees.
To sum up the midfielder’s misery, his appearance against Wolves — his second start for Everton — came 807 days after his first start for the club, back in August 2019.
His lack of game time since his £28 million move showed, as he struggled to keep up with the play during a rusty showing, but he will hope that this can be a major step on his long road to recovery.
In Ligue 1, Khazri scored the goal of the weekend across European football when he struck a long-range belter from inside his own half in the 1-1 draw at Metz.
Khazri — who once failed to make the grade at Sunderland — gathered possession inside Saint-Etienne’s box, carried the ball towards the half-way line, and, seeing Alexandre Oukidja off his line, struck a remarkable right-footed effort from 68 metres.
The goal cancelled out Farid Boulaya’s opener, although Saint-Etienne remain at the foot of the table and without a win in their opening 12 matches.
Boulaya’s former international teammate Delort was responsible for a marvellous turnaround for Nice, as he netted two second-half goals to secure all three points for Les Aiglons at Angers.
Morocco’s Sofiane Boufal had given Angers the lead from the spot, but Delort’s performance after the break — including a delightful volleyed goal from 20 yards — proved too much for the hosts.
Nayef Aguerd, Steve Mounie, Karl Toko Ekambi and Habib Diallo were all also among the goals in France.
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