Fans have had much to say about the position of the Crystal Palace squad this season and the lack of positive results that the group have generated. Pointing to the bright spots in Palace’s season, the first names to come to mind are the usual suspects: winger Michael Olise, defender Marc Guehi, and the like, the undeniable talents that are regularly eyed by Big Six clubs.
At left-back, though, has been a Palace Academy product, quietly establishing himself as an X-factor for a club that desperately needs reliability.
Among Premier League defenders this season, Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell ranks fourth in tackles with 58 to his name, not only the best among Palace players but also the best of any English player. Mitchell has also been Palace’s best tackle-winner, having won 30 tackles. In the defensive third, Mitchell’s tackling becomes even more impressive, as the left-back has the second-most of any player in the Premier League with 46 to his name. Mitchell’s combined tackles and interceptions total is the best of any Palace player in the Premier League this season, doing it without an error to his name.
While most praise for Palace’s defensive successes falls on their elite centre-back duo of Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen, Mitchell is making it harder and harder to ignore his own excellence. Particularly as fans must watch the ageing likes of Joel Ward and Nathaniel Clyne exploited on the other side of the pitch week-after-week, Mitchell is establishing himself as a talent that would be tough to replace.
Mitchell’s status as a Palace X-factor is partly a result of his performances this season, but also partly out of necessity. After all, he is the only left-back in Palace’s senior squad. Thus, Mitchell has played excellent football despite having virtually no competition for his role in the first team, and beyond that, he has done it with nothing in the way of rest; the Englishman has appeared in all but one of Palace’s matches, playing a full 90 minutes in all but two of those games. In total, Mitchell has logged the second-most minutes of any Palace player this year, only trailing Joachim Andersen.
As underrated as Mitchell has been in the 2023–24 season, the workload placed on the left-back amidst the chaos of the season has also limited his potential. Mitchell’s touches per 90 are slightly down from last season (57.4 from 59.2) and substantially lower than two years ago (67.2). Yet his touches in the defensive third are up (21.9 from 20.4 last season), and his touches in the attacking third per 90 minutes are the highest they have ever been. In fact, all three of Palace’s solid first-team defenders—Mitchell, Guehi, and Andersen—have had more expected of them in the attacking third this season than ever before in their Palace careers, as manager Roy Hodgson has forced the team into using its defenders as a crutch for a lacklustre attack. Mitchell, in particular, has played the most minutes of any Premier League full-back this season by some distance.
Yet while being overworked on the pitch and overlooked on the pitch, Mitchell has continued to put his head down and do his job. The left-back is Palace’s leader in passes blocked and total blocks (20 and 27), and has also occasionally contributed to the Palace attack; in three of Palace’s six Premier League wins this season, Mitchell has contributed a goal or an assist. In Tuesday’s much-needed win over Sheffield United, Mitchell looked the part of an elite defender from start to finish, winning 10 of his 11 duels, managing eight tackles, and passing with 88 percent accuracy while once again putting in a full shift.
There is still room to improve for Mitchell. By some metrics, the Englishman has not quite returned to his form of two years ago. Yet the Palace of 2023/24 is not the Palace of 2021/22, either. Tyrick Mitchell is a Crystal Palace Academy success story—one who, week in and week out, does his job without complaint. Mitchell has big aspirations, having been capped twice for England but stirring the rumour mill with a potential switch to represent Jamaica if Gareth Southgate does not give him his opportunity.
At Palace, the left-back is proof that the academy works when its products get the chance. The excellence of Andersen and Guehi is well documented, yet Mitchell has often been ignored in conversations around the elite pieces at Crystal Palace and, in particular, on Palace’s back line. But this season, Mitchell has played football so convincingly that he often goes entirely unnoticed, while putting in an intense workload from the onset of the year. Tyrick Mitchell is not just someone who makes the numbers up, but a homegrown, bonafide star.