May saw the culmination of the 2024/2025 season and while most of the key league placings had already been confirmed leading into the month, there were still plenty of teams putting in a strong showing as they looked to close out their season in style. As a result, we were treated to some intriguing clashes between clubs and players leaving every bit of effort and energy on the pitch ahead of the summer break.

This months NextGoalWinner player of the month winner is a player who has helped his team to cup success this month, while also playing a key role either side of the final by contributing with goals and strong performances to end his teams season on a positive note.

Eberechi Eze has bagged 4 league goals in 4 appearances this month, 5 in 5 if you include his decisive goal in the FA Cup final as Crystal Palace claimed their first major silverware and will see their first European campaign next season. With Eze always likely to have interest around his future and speculation over a transfer, this month may just convince him of sticking around at Palace a little longer.

If you have anything to add to our NextGoalWinner POTM decision, or disagree with our pick, head over to X (@NextGoalWinBlog) or Instagram (@NextGoalWin) and let us know what you think. We will be back in the new season with our player of the month awards for the upcoming campaign.

Match By Match

May 5th: Crystal Palace 1-1 Nottingham Forest – Starting off the month with a spot-kick, Eze bagged the penalty in the 60th minute to put Palace ahead before Forest’s equaliser minutes later. Eze still maintained his man of the match performance as he received an 8.4/10 FotMob rating for his goal, completing the most dribbles (3) and hitting the woodwork in the game. A 1 in 1 goal to game ratio that would continue across the month.

May 11th: Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Crystal Palace – Prior to their key FA Cup final clash, Eze produced his strongest performance of the month, as he bagged a brace in the 2-0 victory over Spurs. With his 2 goals, being the most accurate passed (91%), 100% long ball accuracy and 8.9/10 FotMob rating, he had his standout showing for the month just prior to the most important game arguably in Palace’s recent history. While the stats would say this was his strongest performance, the cup final to come would arguably be his most memorable game in a Palace shirt.

May 20th: Crystal Palace 4-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers – Following on from Palace and Eze’s FA Cup final glory, they returned to action at Selhurst Park to celebrate with their fans, while also producing a strong league showing against an improved Wolves side. While Eze only came on for a late cameo, in his 9 minutes, he managed to bag his 5th goal of the month, maintained 100% shot accuracy, 100% long ball accuracy and helped put the icing on the cake for the celebrations in the final home outing of the season.

March 25th: Liverpool 1-1 Crystal Palace – Ending the campaign at the league champions, Palace did slightly dampen the party atmosphere, as they picked up a point on the final day of the season. Eze had his only game of the month without getting on the scoresheet as he played 63 minutes of the clash. Despite this blank, he did still complete the most dribbles of any player (3) and made 8 recoveries as he produced a 7.3/10 FotMob rating in the final outing of the season.