Zaha: Benteke makes my life easier

Crystal Palace attacker Wilfried Zaha believes striker Christian Benteke has made his life easier since joining the club.

Palace have suffered three straight Premier League losses and are 13th in the table ahead of a trip to Burnley on Saturday.

Benteke, a £27million signing from Liverpool, has three league goals, while Zaha has a goal and three assists.

Zaha, 23, said the Belgian’s heading ability had made it much easier for him.

“Benteke is one of the best headers of the ball so I can just dink it in and I know he will get on to it most of the time,” he told Sky Sports.

“It’s made my job much easier because I know if I cross it then he will head it in. He is an easy player to play with.

“He will get it, set it off and then get into the box, so I know I just have to get it out of my feet and get it in there and he will get his head on it.”

Palace’s form has dipped after a decent start to the campaign, slipping down the table on the back of losses to West Ham, Leicester City and Liverpool.

Zaha said Alan Pardew was working on getting his team to keep possession for longer periods.

“The manager wants us to change our way of playing to try and keep the ball more,” he said.

“In the Premier League you can’t really just defend all the time and then counter, because eventually teams are good enough to score.

“We need to keep the ball, but we are still staying with that style where we break on teams because we have pace.”