Zaha ignores all the transfer talk and
THE NATIONAL
Wilfried Zaha said he had not allowed transfer speculation over the summer to distract him as he helped Crystal Palace begin the new Premier League campaign in winning fashion yesterday.
Zaha netted Palace’s second goal in their 2-0 win at newly promoted Fulham, with Jeffrey Schlupp netting the opener.
Tottenham Hotspur were among the sides who Zaha was linked with a move to, but with the transfer window now shut and the forward still at |Selhurst Park, he claimed he had looked to focus only on his football.
He told the BBC: “I have just had my head down and it was not something I was involved in. I am with Palace and I don’t have time to think about the speculation.” Palace’s victory was a welcome change for them to 12 months ago when they had lost their opening seven games, a league record, before they bounced back to stay up.
Zaha added: “It was a difficult game but we stuck by our game plan. We are just taking every game as it comes, the main thing is taking our chances because we have pace in our team and we can counter on sides.”
Slavisa Jokanovic, the Fulham manager, felt his side must quickly adjust to life in the top tier as they faded against Palace after a promising start.
“The Premier League is more power, more speed and more quality and we must adapt,” he said. “We followed the game plan and created some half chances but we didn’t show enough quality in the opposition box and their goalkeeper made some saves.”
Meanwhile, Javi Gracia paid tribute to his Watford side as they won on the opening day of a top flight campaign for the first time in 31 years with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Watford, after a poor second half to last season, had been predicted to struggle this year, but two goals from Italian Roberto Pereyra gave them the spoils at Vicarage Road.
Gracia, who is Watford’s first manager since Beppe Sannino in 2014 to start the season in charge, having been also in the hotseat at the end of the previous one, said: “I’m very happy with the result, but