Former Crystal Palace youth player Roy Hodgson is set to opt against selecting any of Tony Pulis' players for his 23-man England World Cup squad this afternoon.
Joel Ward would have been one of the main contenders for the England World Cup squad after a stunning first season in the Premier League. The Crystal Palace Young Player of the Year has featured 36 times for the Eagles this season, showing his flexibility on the field by featuring in four different positions this season in both defence and midfield.
The 24-year old has featured at right-back, left-back, defensive-midfield and centre midfield for Crystal Palace this season, picking up the second highest amount of tackles in the Premier League with 115 this season, only his team-mate Mile Jedinak making more with 133. Continuing to shine through the tackling statistics, Joel Ward has the third highest tackle averages per game with 2.83, an amount in which is only bettered by Fulham's Matthew Briggs who has featured twice this season and West Brom's Claudio Yacob with 3.11 in his 1842 minutes of Premier League football.
Compared to England's other options, Joel Ward has had a cracker of a season, equalling and exceeding their performances throughout the season. Joel Ward has won 41 more tackles than Southampton's Luke Shaw whom has the nearest tally compared to Ward whilst Everton's Phil Jagielka has won the same amount of aerial duels with 68. It is not only duels in which the Palace Young Player of the Year has exceeded his competitors as he has managed to pull in 88 interceptions this season compared to the 49 of Johnson and Jagielka.
If you put the statistics on a piece of paper, it is very clear for the reasons in why Joel Ward should be taken to the World Cup compared to the players that can play in familiar players with him; it is not only those statistics either as it has been shown throughout the season that he can adjust to more than one position and to a very high standard.
Who else did Roy miss?
Jason Puncheon has been a surprise player for Crystal palace this season, scoring seven Premier League goals this season; four of which were scored against Cardiff, Everton & Aston Villa during the Eagles' five-game win streak towards the back-end of the season. He managed to score on average every 359 games in the Premier League with there being one main contender against Puncheon after his recent performances.
Ian Holloway's record breaking transfer signing, Dwight Gayle has sprung to life recently managing to pip the likes of Jason Puncheon and Marouane Chamakh to Crystal Palace's Top Goal Scorer of the Season award with eight goals. The surprise of it all is that he has only featured in 1,005 minutes of football this season, building up a tally of a goal every 127 minutes in the Premier League. The 23-year-old has a better goal scoring record than Manchester City's Yaya Toure who has only managed to score his 20 Premier League goals in an average of every 146 minutes.
Will Roy Hodgson's snub of Crystal Palace stars cost England the World Cup?
