Chilwell: “I’ve loved it here”
During last night’s lap of appreciation, Ben Chilwell shared his thoughts on his short stint in south London.
The 28-year-old England international joined the Eagles on loan right at the very end of the winter transfer window and has made 11 appearances in total after his first Premier League start for the club against Wolverhampton Wanderers last night.
Commenting on his goal, the left wing-back said: “It went in! There's no pictures in the scorebook, so yeah, I’ll take it. A goal's a goal!”
“There were a lot of reasons why I celebrated the way I did. It's my first Premier League start in a few years, first goal since my dad passed away. So there were a lot of different emotions with the goal.
“Obviously, it was nice to get my first goal here at Selhurst as well, and I think after the weekend, after the FA Cup win on Saturday. So yeah, there were a lot of different reasons why I celebrated the way I did.”
Though he only joined in February, Chilwell has adapted well to life in South London and continued to wax lyrical about the club.
“I've loved it here. It’s such a good club. I knew and I'd heard from a few of the boys I knew here, and I spoke to Trev [Trevoh Chalobah] and he said what a great club it was.
“Coming here and from day one, all the boys, all the staff, the fans, the fans at Wembley. It's just been, yeah, I've loved it.
“Normally when you don't play as much football as you want, you know, you're probably a bit more disappointed, but I've really enjoyed it.
“Even though I've not played as much football as I would have liked, I've really enjoyed coming in every day and just having a great time with the boys, just being around and trying to help the boys with my experience.
In an already decorated career so far, the FA Cup had eluded Chilwell up until Saturday - so not only was it a historic day for the club, it was another key milestone for him personally.
“I think I posted on my Instagram… it was, whatever it was, however many times I had been at Wembley [in an FA Cup final] and to finally get the win.
With this group, such a top group of boys, the manager, all the staff are all amazing. To win it with this group was amazing and then obviously the celebrations after with everyone were special as well. It was a brilliant night.”