Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has backed Ismaila Sarr to add to his 20-goal tally in the final four games of the season.
Sarr became the first Palace player to score 20+ goals in a single campaign in 13 years on Sunday, turning Tyrick Mitchell’s cross past Jordan Pickford in a 2–2 draw against Everton, which secured Palace’s Premier League status for another season.
It puts him in esteemed company with Glenn Murray, who scored 30 goals in Palace’s 2012/13 Premier League promotion season.
Eight of Sarr’s goals have come in the Premier League, with a further nine in the UEFA Conference League.
The 28-year-old has all but secured the Golden Boot in Europe, with the nearest Rayo Vallecano player – who Palace face in the final – five goals behind the Senegal international.
Sarr might have scored even more this season had it not been for the Africa Cup of Nations, which forced him to miss around a month of the club campaign.
“I’m a bit surprised it’s now 20 goals,” said Glasner. “But I’m pretty sure it will be more at the end of the season.
“He’s doing so well. He’s a permanent threat in every single game. He knows exactly how we want to play. He feels the spaces where the ball will arrive. It’s great to watch him.
“There will definitely be a few goals added to the 20.
“We haven’t found a special button. We didn’t make him quicker, we didn’t make him jump higher. We try to get the best Ismaila Sarr.
“This is what he’s done from day one. We could see his attitude and talent and then we integrated him into the way we are playing.
“He knows exactly what we are doing in and out of possession. We encourage every player to play to their strengths.
“Of course we’d like to see it, but we don’t ask Ismaila to play one-touch football. But we ask him to make the runs and occupy certain spaces, where he creates space for other players in tandem with Daniel Munoz.
“They’ve been playing together for two years – they know each other. We work and train all these situations with him. But it’s him because he’s working, listening, always trying to improve and not being satisfied.
“He has this ambition in his mind and skills in his body, which meant he wasn’t satisfied with 19 goals; he wanted 20, and now it’s 21 and 22.”
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