Crystal Palace, Dean Henderson: We miss Eze but we have to get on without him

By Alessandro Schiavone at London Stadium

Dean Henderson admitted that Crystal Palace "miss" Ebere Eze but that he and his teammates are trying to move on.

If anything their star player's exit has brought about a renewed sense of togetherness.

Ex-Man United goalie Henderson, who was Palace's talisman in their FA Cup final win over Man City by saving Omar Marmoush's penalty after Eze had given them the lead, told Capital Football: "Our star quality is togetherness and I think that's so important.

"That's what the manager emphasizes so much.

"He always says it's a team sport and not an individual sport.

"Obviously we miss Eze of course, he's a top player but we have to get on with it."

The game is filled with notorious examples of teams losing their main man and improving collectively.

PSG became a tight-knit team and won the Champions League after Messi, Neymar and Mbappé quit. While AC Milan and Inter Milan won the Champions League after Shevchenko and Ibrahimovic left in 2006 and 2009 respectively. Liverpool also lifted 'Ol Big Ears in the aftermath of Michael Owen's departure to Real Madrid twenty years ago.

Henderson added: "We have seen so many times in the past where good players have gone but the other ones stepped up."

Palace have been unbeaten in their last 17 games across all competitions with their last reversal at Newcastle in mid-April.

Asked whether the longer the purple patch goes on the more they feel 'invincible' going into games, Henderson said: "I think the thing is we've just got to the stage with this manager where we take one game at a time.

"We don't get carried away [and] we don't get too disappointed when things don't go our way.

"We've got that resilience, we've got a great togetherness within the group and it shows with this unbeaten run.

"Everyone can fill the gaps of each other. We've seen it today [yesterday], lads clearing off the line and covering for each other and it's fantastic to see."