Former Tottenham Hotspur forward Garth Crooks believes that Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew may have to drop Connor Wickham in order to get the best out of Christian Benteke.

Pardew opted to pair Benteke and Wickham together in Palace's 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park against Bournemouth on Saturday, leaving winger Wilfried Zaha on the bench.
 



The Palace boss did play Andros Townsend, but Crooks thinks one winger will not be enough to get the best out of Benteke and has urged Pardew to play the Belgian up top, with two wingers.

"He did play Connor Wickham and Benteke up front, leaving Townsend out wide and Zaha on the bench, feeling that perhaps he was going to be a little bit vulnerable elsewhere if he had played the two wingers", Crooks said on the BBC's Final Score programme.
 


"Now, he played [Yannick] Bolasie, before he went to Everton, and Zaha, and they looked exciting, they won games", he continued.

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"He might have to go to playing one up front and playing Zaha and Townsend to get the best out of Benteke."

Crystal Palace are yet to clock up their first win in the Premier League this season and sit with just one point from three games.

They have a trip to newly promoted Middlesbrough on the agenda for after the international break, before Stoke City then arrive at Selhurst Park.