Ben Chilwell Reacts To 'Shanked' Winning Strike For Crystal Palace

Ben Chilwell made his return to Crystal Palace on deadline day, mutually terminating his deal with Strasbourg in order to secure a free transfer move back to Palace, where he played on loan in the 2024/25 season and was part of the FA Cup winning squad. 

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Chilwell scored the winner as Palace managed to claim their first Premier League points under Pierre Sage, as Palace came from behind twice against Álvaro Arbeloa’s Fulham before Chilwell popped up with the winning strike. 

His return showed it’s worth in his first appearance, allowing Tyrick Mitchell to give his absolute best for the opening 65-70 minutes and not have to worry about conserving energy because there is no adequate replacement on the bench. 

Now, we can see the best of Mitchell with the confidence that Chilwell can come on and replace him, bringing just as much energy and quality. 

Chilwell on Sage’s approach 

Having only joined the club on Tuesday, Chilwell trained just once with his (somewhat) new teammates, but praised the group and club upon his return. 

“I’m buzzing to be back amongst the boys, you know, fit, straight back in from day one and like I mentioned, I love being here.”

Sage has been very clear with the media so far, and whilst he doesn’t seem to react emotionally, he is happy to call things out when they are not done well. Chilwell spoke about how this transcends to the dressing room too. 

“Yeah I mean the manager, he was very honest with us at half time, even then at full time, he knows the quality in the team, we know the quality in the team, we know we can play a lot better, we can control games better than we did today, but I think the thing he was most pleased with and what us as players, from the bench watching for the first 70-75 minutes, most pleased with is to see the the attitude of the boys, the personality, the commitment, the togetherness.” 

One of the main criticisms of Palace’s players in their opening day defeat to Everton away from home was that they appeared to give up far too easily and didn’t show much fight to get back into the game. 

When Fulham took the lead on 11 minutes, there was certainly a fear that heads could drop, but the players dug in and showed real fight and determination to get the win over the line. 

“To go down twice and to come back and win the game away from home shows a lot about the squad, and like I said hopefully we can push on now as a group, take it in - the way we celebrated with the fans after the game, take that in and use that energy from them to push on.”

Whilst Palace were in no means in catastrophe, losing the two opening games, which many fans expected, left them in need of a first point at least. With a favorable run of fixtures starting with and following the trip to Fulham, building confidence was a huge aim for Sage’s side, and now they can continue to put his ideas into practice. 

Chilwell scores second Palace goal 

During his first spell on loan with the club, Chilwell scored just one goal in a 4-2 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. 

He netted his second for the club, and first for this new spell with Palace just five minutes after his introduction. This followed Tyrick Mitchell’s brace, which had seen Palace come back to equalise twice after going a goal down. 

Chilwell replaced Palace’s player of the match, and joked about the fact it was a left wingback takeover at Craven Cottage. . 

“To be fair, T had scored two from wingback so it must have just been a day for left wing backs. [I’m] delighted…so to come back in and score the winner, in front of the palace fans and just to see how buzzing all the boys were, for me it was a great feeling.”

Chilwell’s leadership has been cited by many fans as a key reason why his return to the club is such a smart move, because whilst he brings plenty of ability and talent, the way he commands respect and motivation from his teammates is a huge asset for Palace and Sage. 

“Yea great feeling and you know three points, first three points and hopefully we can push on now as a team and continue in that respect.”

Palace had come close to scoring twice before the ball eventually ricocheted to Chilwell, who, in his own words, ‘shanked’ the finish beyond Bernd Leno. 

“Yeah [it was my]  first touch of the game, I think I’d been on for about five minutes and hadn’t touched the ball before, I was waiting and then it just popped up, there was a bit of a ricochet, I was a bit in two minds to be fair because it had a bit of spin on it… I knew the ‘keeper was out so I thought ‘take it first time’, if I hit the target I knew it had a chance, bit of a shank but they all count.”

His finish found the bottom of the net and won Palace their first points of the season, and Chilwell took over the mantle from Maxence Lacroix’s post-win fist bumps, and shared that he’d even spoken to Lacroix upon re-signing for Palace. 

“I actually spoke to Max a few days ago and he was buzzing for me to come [back] here. To ‘honour’ him in that respect [the fist pumps], I’ve not done it before so I didn’t really know what I was doing but I just felt the energy of the crowd and used it to celebrate and such a special feeling, I had my family and a few friends in there.” 

The feeling radiating from that away end was one of relief but also quiet confidence. The mood amongst the players was strong, and only galvanised by winning in such dramatic fashion. Sage and his players can now look ahead to Boro in the week and then Ipswich Town at Selhurst Park next weekend. 

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