Crystal Palace among top clubs for using English players

Crystal Palace have given more minutes to English players in the Premier League this season than any of their London rivals, statistics show.

With Joel Ward, Andros Townsend and Jason Puncheon all ever-presents, and the likes of Scott Dann, Wilfried Zaha, James Tomkins and Martin Kelly all featuring regularly, Palace are among the top clubs for using homegrown talent.

Only Bournemouth (81%) and Burnley (62%) have given Englishmen more Premier League minutes this season than Palace (53%), according to the CIES Football Observatory figures.

They are the sole London club in the top half. Tottenham are ranked 12th this season, with 28% of their available minutes being played by English players.

Arsenal (23%) and Chelsea (16%) are both in the bottom four, while cosmopolitan Watford have used Englishmen just 9% of minutes.

However, the figures are put into context when compared to how often domestic-born players are used across Europe.

Palace’s 53% is lower than 10 of La Liga teams, all bar three of Ligue 1 sides, seven Serie A clubs and six Bundesliga teams