Palace academy star Wan-Bissaka given chance to shine

Born in Croydon, Aaron Wan-Bissaka has been a ''Palace'' academy alumni since the age of 11. There he is listed as a winger comfortable on both the left and right, although as recently as last season he moved to wing back and is expected to remain in that position.

He has not been the most obvious choice and usually sidelined in favour of other notable alumni. He did, however, travel for pre-season training in Hong Kong with the first team squad and subsequently made the occasional appearance on the substitute bench.

It was widely thought that he was among the players called up to pad out numbers in the event of injury. As it happened, Crystal Palace had been dogged with injuries and Wan-Bissaka made his debut at right back against Tottenham last week. Until then, no academy player had been given the opportunity to play for Palace since 2013.

The 20-year-old then started for the match against Manchester United and despite the defeat, Wan-Bissaka was particularly praised for his on-pitch efforts.

He performed brilliantly and skillfully and slotted right into the level of the Premier League against two of the toughest opponents with relative ease. His position is contested by Joel Ward and Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who are both expected to be fit, but could be omitted from the starting line in favour of the young, well-performing player when they take on league champions Chelsea on Saturday.