Roy Hodgson is hopeful that four Crystal Palace players will have recovered from injury in time to feature against Newcastle tomorrow.
Palace’s modest-sized first-team squad has been pushed to its limits in the first two months of the season, with only Chelsea suffering more injuries among Premier League clubs.
Key attackers Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise remain unavailable with hamstring injuries, but a quartet of Eagles players may return in time for tomorrow’s match at St James’ Park.
Defensive midfielder Cheick Doucoure suffered a hamstring injury just over a fortnight ago. While he did not feature for Mali during the international break despite being selected, he is expected to return to action for Palace imminently.
A final check today ahead of the Newcastle match is also due for fellow midfield pivot Jefferson Lerma, who has been training for less than two weeks after sustaining a thigh injury.
Naouirou Ahamada is also understood to be on track to return to face the Magpies, having been absent since mid-September due to a freak injury in training in which he caused some minor damage to his foot by kicking the ground.
Perhaps the most exciting development for Eagles fans is that £26million signing Matheus Franca is expected to be fit enough to be named on the bench tomorrow. The 19-year-old is yet to make his debut since his summer signing from Flamengo due to lower back pain.
As well as Eze and Olise, Palace also have Nathan Ferguson, Joel Ward, Jairo Riedewald, Dean Henderson and Jeffrey Schlupp all out injured.
Ward, the Palace skipper, is the closest to making a return but it is felt that tomorrow’s match may come too soon for him.
