Opta Analyst looks at how the Spaniard is settling into his new role as a playmaker for the Eagles
Ryan Benson of Opta Analyst looks at the data to suggest Yeremy Pino has the potential to fill the void at Crystal Palace following Eberechi Eze’s departure.
Ordinarily, last weekend might have brought a pang of ruefulness to Crystal Palace fans when the biggest fixture of Matchweek 12 was decided emphatically by a player they likely still hold dear.
Eberechi Eze lit up the north London derby for Arsenal, scoring his first career hat-trick and only the fourth treble in that illustrious fixture’s entire history. He was practically unplayable.
Considering the backstory of Eze being a former Arsenal academy player who was released, only to return “home” as a professional, it was understandably a narrative that dominated headlines and defined Matchday 12 of the 2025/26 Premier League season.
But, a day earlier, Eze’s replacement at Palace “arrived” in the Premier League as Yeremy Pino scored his first goal for the club with a gorgeous strike in a comfortable 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Watch: Pino’s stunning goal at Wolves
The occasion wasn’t quite as grand as a north London derby, and this obviously isn’t to say one goal makes Pino “better than Eze”, but it was a great moment for a player who’s been quietly impressive since taking on the arduous task of attempting to replace the England international at Selhurst Park.
After all, Eze held such influence at Palace and his individual quality meant he represented something of a joker in the pack, able to almost singlehandedly change games in the Eagles’ favour.
For some, Pino might’ve been seen as a bit of a gamble due to his physical attributes; he has the build of a classic Spanish playmaker, so hardly a force of nature.
But he’s showing that whatever he lacks in physicality, he makes up for with talent, positional intelligence and work rate.
Of course, given Pino came into the squad in place of Eze, there is to some extent an expectation for him to produce goals and assists.
Pino’s strike on Saturday was his first in either column in the Premier League, and that total of one goal involvement from 10 top-flight appearances this season may not be particularly eye-catching.
But, while goals and assists might be the headline numbers for many, there is clearly a lot more to football than that, and Pino is a good example.
More than meets the eye
A Spain international at the age of 18, Pino – now 23 – has a profile that can be difficult to pin down to one specific position or role – and that’s a good thing.
Technically gifted, dynamic and inventive, Pino can be impactful in many ways, and that explains why he’s been moved around quite a bit through his career already.
In fact, he actually spent most of last season playing from the right flank at Villarreal.
There, his dribbling ability and awareness of his team-mates’ positions made him a reliable outlet, but he felt his responsibilities required a lot of grunt work, too.
Pino was then moved over to the left in the latter stages of 2024/25, allowing him – in his own words – to “show my best version and shine”.
He began this season by playing on the left wing for Villarreal before taking up a similar position for the most part since joining Palace on 29 August.
Playing there encourages Pino, much like Eze, to come inside onto his stronger right foot and therefore take up more central positions.
That’s positive, not just because it ensures he’s more involved but also as it means he and Tyrick Mitchell don’t get in each other’s way, which is notable as the wing-backs are hugely important to Palace’s transition-based style of play.
Coming inside on to his stronger foot opens the pitch up, which can be particularly helpful for creative players as it brings more passing options into view.
This is especially relevant with Palace, who get forward so aggressively when transitioning from defence to attack.
For instance, among the top 20 players this season for most off-ball runs in the Premier League, four play for Palace, more than any other team. They are pretty relentless.
Playing through-balls
Already, Pino appears to be fitting into this system well because he understands when there’s a need to make the pass quickly.
One such scenario (see below) should have yielded a first Premier League assist at the weekend, but Jean-Philippe Mateta put his eventual shot wide after latching on to the Spaniard’s first-time through-ball.
A little later, Mateta was the target of another through-ball from Pino, though on this occasion he was ultimately crowded out by the Wolves defence.
Nevertheless, it was a strategy that caused Wolves problems – in fact, Pino looked for a run of Mateta’s in the first minute but overcooked his pass slightly. Seemingly, it was a sighter as his other two were on the money.
This isn’t just something we saw at the weekend, though. During the October defeat to Arsenal, Pino played a through-ball that was almost identical to his first-time one against Wolves – had David Raya not been so sharp off his line, it may have yielded something.
Similarly, against Everton in early October, Pino found Ismaila Sarr with a sumptuous pass only for the Senegalese attacker to lack composure, and the attack eventually ended with a Mateta effort going past a post.
First of all, this is pretty clear evidence of Pino adapting to some of the key stylistic nuances of his new team. But more specifically than that, it seems he has a good understanding already of what Palace’s chief goal threat – Mateta – intends to do.
Mateta has made 120 off-ball runs in behind the opposition’s defence this season, a figure only Ollie Watkins (160) and Igor Thiago (128) can better. And Pino appears to appreciate that.
Linked to all of this, Pino’s nine through-balls (defined as intending to put a player through on goal for a potential scoring opportunity by splitting the last line of defence) in the Premier League this season is bettered only by Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Guimaraes (10 each), but they’ve respectively spent considerably longer on the pitch (1,046 and 985 minutes respectively) than Pino (616).
It could be suggested that this is just what the role requires at Palace, but it’s worth noting that the most through-balls any of their players produced last season was 13 (Sarr); Eze played 10.
Whether this is a deliberate ploy, Oliver Glasner has come up with this season or simply a tangible product of Pino’s football IQ is unclear, but it’s clearly a facet that reflects the Spaniard’s general creative quality.
So, although Pino is yet to actually claim an assist in the league this term as alluded to before, he can probably count himself unlucky.
The open-play chances he has created have been worth 1.41 Expected Assists (xA); the only players with more xA who are yet to record an assist in open play this campaign are Bukayo Saka (2.02) and Enzo Fernandez (1.44).
Eze, as another example, has two open-play assists from 1.32 xA, so this needn’t be looked at as an issue on Pino’s part.
Furthermore, Pino’s general contributions to Palace in possession are positive.
He may still be a little way off carrying the same wide-ranging on-ball influence as Eze, who was involved in 5.3 open-play attacking sequences per 90 last season, but Pino (4.4) is averaging more than any of his team-mates in 2025/26.
The purpose here really isn’t to directly compare the respective outputs of Pino and Eze or try to push an agenda about Glasner being better off with one over the other.
After all, they’re hardly identical players and their exploits at Palace are obviously in very different contexts.
But it’s also impossible to ignore the variation in what they offer, and that’s probably most stark when considering their off-ball work.
Playing with intensity
On a per-90 basis in the Premier League this season, Pino is averaging 93.1 pressures per game, which puts him ninth among players to play at least 270 minutes. A pressure is defined as approaching the player in possession with the aim of winning the ball or limiting their passing options.
Among the same group, he moves up to seventh for high-intensity pressures (applying pressure within two metres of the opponent) with 61.5 per 90.
For context, Eze averaged 59.4 pressures and 41.8 high-intensity pressures per 90 in the league last season.
It won’t generally attract headlines or much mainstream attention in general, but Pino’s work rate without the ball must be recognised.
Glasner actually acknowledged Pino’s effort after the win over Wolves. He said: “[Pino] is getting better and better. What I really love is he always gives 100 per cent effort and commitment to the team.
“He works so hard, which is why he is usually exhausted after 60, 70, 75 minutes. But that’s who we are. The next player comes on and does the same job.”
This potentially highlights an issue of efficiency, and to be fair to Pino, he brought up something similar towards the end of his time at Villarreal when reminding himself in a press conference that he should “conserve energy for attacking”.
But if working too hard is the most concerning aspect of Pino’s adaptation to life in the Premier League, there are far worse problems for Palace to inherit.
Either with a bit of fine-tuning or Pino reaching new levels of fitness, the Spaniard’s blend of craft and graft will make him a devastatingly effective player for this Palace side.
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