Ian Wright Believes Christian Benteke Can Find Form of Old if Crystal Palace Teammates Do One Thing

Former Crystal Palace and Arsenal striker, and now TV pundit Ian Wright has stated that he believes Eagles frontman Christian Benteke will score regularly as long as his teammates play to his strengths. 

The 27-year-old netted his first goal of the campaign on Saturday as his side brushed off Leicester City during a convincing 3-0 win at the King Power Stadium. 

The Belgium international opened the scoring midway through the first-half with a powerful header into the floor which had too much pace on it for Foxes goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel after being left unmarked inside the area. 

Wilfried Zaha and Bakary Sako confirmed all three points either side of half-time to lift Palace two points clear of the Premier League relegation zone and continue Roy Hodgson's impressive form since taking the hot seat at Selhurst Park. 

However, one issue the former England boss has had to overcome is a barren Benteke, who before Saturday had not found his name onto the scoresheet in 12 attempts, fixtures which included his woeful penalty miss to cost his side a potential three points against Bournemouth last weekend. 

But even though the imposing striker has finally just got off the mark, Wright believes he can produce more frequently as long as those around him support him. 

"If you have Benteke in the side, then put the ball in the box", the 54-year-old said on BBC's Match of the Day. 

"And for the second goal [scored by Wilfried Zaha], once he gets the ball with his strength and ability, this is what you want. He looks for Wilfried Zaha, who was magnificent, as was Andros Townsend and James McArthur.

"But I think his timing is off. Once he [Benteke] gets his timing on, he will score goals; I think he could have scored a hat-trick [against Leicester].

"But he [Benteke] played well, and he must have had a nightmare last week [after his penalty miss against Bournemouth]."