On a weekend packed with goals and entertaining football, Jamie Vardy’s first hat-trick in the Premier League stole the headlines, but his wasn’t the only standout display. Wilfried Zaha made his mark in another six-goal thriller, between Hull and Crystal Palace.

The winger outfoxed Robert Snodgrass to earn a penalty, laid on the assist for Fraizer Campbell’s late equaliser and scored a sensational goal himself in between. His thunderous strike will be remembered, but Alan Pardew was right to be full of praise for the 24-year-old after the game. “Even take the goal out of the performance and you’ve got an outstanding display,” said the Palace boss. “How many English players, offensive players, would have done what he did today?”

Given that Zaha recently confirmed he had switched his international allegiance to the Ivory Coast, his manager’s insistence that England have missed out may seem redundant now, but Pardew’s own frustration with England’s decision to overlook him is understandable. Still seemingly hopeful that both Zaha and England will have a change of heart, Pardew will be without his player of the season for a crucial period if that is not the case.

If Zaha does receive a call-up for the African Cup of Nations, he could miss more than a month of the season. With Palace set to face Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal in their next four games, there’s a realistic chance they could be in the relegation zone by the time Zaha flies out to Gabon.

While Pardew is clearly frustrated by the snub from England, the player probably felt he had little option. Zaha must have wondered what he needed to do to get the call. When team-mate Andros Townsend was selected ahead of him for the previous England squad – despite having fallen out of favour at club level – it proved the last straw. Zaha could either wait and risk continuing to be left out or opt to appear in a major international tournament before Southgate had the chance to name another squad.

On current form, Zaha deserves a place in the England squad. Pardew is right to say there are few players in the Premier League that possess the same ability to terrorise full-backs, and even fewer who are eligible for the national team. The Hull defence were petrified of Zaha’s pace, power and trickery on Saturday. He has shown all three of these attributes for some time now, but he seems to have finally married them together.

He has only scored three goals in the Premier League this season, which is unspectacular, but only Kevin De Bruyne has registered more assists than Zaha’s six, five of which – along with two goals – have come in his last seven appearances. And he is not producing the goods because of his team-mates. It took Zaha to play a significant role in three goals at the weekend for Palace to earn a point. An assist and man of the match rating against Leicester was not enough to avoid defeat – nor were assists against Liverpool, Burnley, Manchester City or a goal against Swansea in the four matches that followed. Over a seven-game stretch in which only the current top three have scored more goals than Palace’s 16, they have conceded a league high of 20 goals, meaning Zaha’s efforts have largely gone unrewarded. Of players who haven’t played for the majority of the season as a striker, only Philippe Coutinho and Gylfi Sigurdsson (both 10) have had a direct hand in more goals than Zaha’s nine.

With all three of his goals and four of his assists coming away from home this season, only Alexis Sánchez (8.63) has earned a higher rating on the road. Zaha’s score of 8.23 from seven appearances ranks among the top five in Europe, alongside Sánchez, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo.

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It’s not just his direct contribution to goals that has improved this season. His cross accuracy of 35.6% is double that of his first season back at Selhurst Park and he ranks second of the 50 players who have attempted at least 30, when excluding corners. By rounding three opponents at the weekend, Zaha became the first player in Europe’s top leagues this season to attempt 100 dribbles. While that has always been his greatest strength, it’s another area in which he has made significant strides this season, with a dribble success rate of 60.8% again at a high for his Premier League career.

Despite all this, Zaha still has his doubters, with Southgate clearly among them. Concerns over his end product in seasons gone by had merit but all that has changed having this campaign. The winger’s decision to opt for the Ivory Coast suddenly looks like England’s loss – as well as Palace’s.

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