Ayew doesn’t care his friend Benteke is left on the bench

Jordan Ayew

Crystal Palace front man Jordan Ayew says he’s happy to keep scoring so his friend Christian Benteke remains on the bench.

Ayew has had a fine start to the season by scoring decisive goals in Palace’s victories over Manchester United and Aston Villa.

Christian Benteke was in the process of replacing him against Villa on Saturday but was told to sit back down after Ayew found the breakthrough goal.

The Ghana international has earned his right to play in attack and insists his rivalry with Benteke is friendly.

“I don’t pay attention to those things [subs coming on]. Christian is my very good friend and obviously we all want to play,” he told the Palace website. “The manager has chosen a system where we both will come and play.

“Like I said, he’s my friend – one of my very good friends – so there’s no problem about that.”

Ayew joined for £2.5m from Swansea in the summer despite only scoring two goals while on loan last term.

The 27-year-old says he wants to repay Palace’s faith in him and he’s already matched last season’s tally.

“Since I came to this football club, the staff, chairman, everyone are motivating me,” he said. “So even if I had a difficult year last season, they still trust in me and they signed me this year.

“The thing I have to do is pay them back on the pitch and that’s what I try to do. I work hard every day and now it’s paying off and I hope it continues.

“It’s one step at a time and we’ll just continue. It’s the beginning of the season and we just keep on doing the basics right and get rewarded.”