Crystal Palace’s record with and without Wilfried Zaha shows the significance of the forward’s new contract at Selhurst Park.
The 25-year-old has committed to the club until 2023 by signing a new deal on Wednesday morning.
The news is a huge boost to the club, particularly after last season when they failed to win a single Premier League point without him.
Wish you were here
In 10 games with Zaha not in the starting line-up – including March’s 2-1 loss to Chelsea, when he came on as a substitute and set up Patrick van Aanholt’s goal – Palace lost all 10 and scored only four goals.
With Zaha starting, by contrast, they won 11 and drew 11 of their 28 games and averaged over 1.4 goals per game, overcoming a dreadful start which cost manager Frank de Boer his job just four games in to comfortably secure survival and push for the top half of the table.
In the four years since his return to the club following an unsuccessful spell with Manchester United, Zaha has made 130 league appearances, with Palace enjoying a 33.1 per cent win rate in those games and scoring 1.25 goals per game.
In 23 matches without him in that time, their win rate drops to 21.7 per cent with 0.87 goals per game.
Growing influence
A quarter of league goals by Palace players in open play last season came from Zaha continuing an upward trend.
Having scored four goals in 2014-15 (9.8 per cent) and two the following season (5.9 per cent), his contribution jumped to 16 per cent in 2016-17 with seven out of 44 and then last term’s nine out of 36.
Overall, Zaha has scored 23 out of 157 open-play goals for Palace since his return from United – 14.6 per cent, or slightly better than one in seven.
The figures exclude penalties, as well as own goals by opposition players. Last season, top scorer Luka Milivojevic’s 10 goals included seven spot-kicks.
Home sweet home
Staying at Selhurst Park also appears beneficial for Zaha, who grew up in south London after moving from the Ivory Coast and first joined Palace at the age of 12.
He scored 15 Championship goals in three full seasons, following a solitary 10-minute substitute appearance in 2009-10, and has those 23 to his name in top-flight action for his boyhood club.
In his time with United, by contrast, Zaha made just two league appearances for the club in 18 months. During that time he spent the latter half of the 2013-14 season on loan at Cardiff, where he made 12 top-flight appearances but started only five of those games and did not score a goal.