Patrick van Aanholt's Importance for Crystal Palace Highlighted by Goalscoring Stat
By Lee Bushe
After scoring in Crystal Palace's 2-1 win over West Ham, Patrick van Aanholt drew level with Chelsea's Marcos Alonso's for the most goals scored by a defender since January 2017 - with 12.
Van Aanholt has developed a habit his goalscoring in South London and since his arrival at Palace two-and-a-half years ago, no defender has been on the scoresheet in the Premier League more frequently.
On Saturday, the former Chelsea youth teamer netted from the penalty spot to equalise against West Ham at the London Stadium. Striker Jordan Ayew scored a dramatic late winner to give Crystal Palace all three points away from home and take them up into the Premier League's top six.
The Netherlands international has scored 12 goals in 83 Premier League appearances for Palace in total, including an impressive goal haul of five in 2017/18 - more than any other striker at the club that season.
In fact, van Aanholt has scored more goals than Christian Benteke over the last couple of seasons, a player who is meant to be Palace's main goalscoring threat. The Belgian could only manage one goal last season compared to van Aanholt's three, while he could only get three compared to the Dutchman's five the season before.
Benteke has only managed 19 Premier League goals in his 87 appearances for Palace since joining in 2016, which when compared to van Aanholt's 12 goals in 83 appearances, reveals the true extent of Benteke's failures in front of goal - even defenders score more than him.
Van Aanholt's goals have come clubs as varied as West Ham, Huddersfield Town, Chelsea, Leicester City, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Hull City and Middlesborough, while he has scored two goals against Manchester United and Bournemouth.
Van Aanholt's top goalscoring rival defender, Marcos Alonso, actually hasn't been as consistent in terms of his goalscoring record over the last couple of seasons.
The Spaniard scored on 13 occasions during Antonio Conte's tenure at Chelsea between 2016 and 2018 but has only been able to net twice since.