Eberechi Eze plays another sport away from football and bags first win

Eberechi Eze captured the headlines over the weekend when he put up a stunning performance to help guide to the final. Eze netted the opening goal of the game, with Palace set to return to Wembley for their first FA Cup final since 2016 in mid-May.

But on the back of his Wembley heroics, Eze has opted to take up another sport, with the Englishman securing his first competitive win as a chess player. Eze is a keen chess player and recently took part in an online amateur chess tournament hosted by Chess.com.

Eze took victory in his opening match of the PogChamps 6 event, which was broadcast on Twitch and YouTube. The Palace and England ace went on to win out all of his games in the group stage, helping him finish top of his pool's standings.

The 26-year-old has previously opened up about his love of chess, crediting former team-mate Michael Olise for sparking an interest. He told : "I didn't start learning chess until Michael came in. It was him and my brother who nudged me to learn how to play and face them, so that's when I started studying the game, watching YouTube videos of the best chess openings, things like that. We are always playing something at the training ground."

Despite taking his chess game to the next level by competing in competitive matches, it's unlikely to knock Eze off his stride ahead of the cup final. Commenting after he helped Palace dump Villa out in the semi-final on Saturday, he stated: "We want to go all the way and we believe we can do it: 100 per cent. We have shown performances like this all the time, we're not worried or fearful of facing anyone. I trust that we will put in the work and hopefully we can do it."

He added, when asked about his goal: "I saw the opportunity to shoot. I'm always trying my luck, always taking shots. We work on this stuff all the time. I'm grateful to God that I have scored today and helped the team."

Palace have two league matches to play before their date with destiny under the Wembley arch, starting this weekend against Nottingham Forest. They then make the trip to London rivals Tottenham, before taking on Manchester City in the final.