Roy Hodgson has confirmed a double injury blow for Crystal Palace.
Jefferson Lerma and Marc Guehi have both been ruled out of Saturday’s game against Aston Villa following issues picked up on international duty.
The Palace boss said: “[Lerma]’s had a scan this morning so I can’t give any details, but it’s to do with his hamstring. I don’t know how serious it is.
“He played two times 90 minute and travelled first to Colombia, then to Chile and then to England. He didn’t arrive back until reasonably late on Thursday morning. He made his way straight to the training ground here to see the medical staff and report the fact that he felt a slight problem in his hamstring. Today, he’s gone for the scan.
“I’m hoping that will also be more the result of two times 90 minutes and the travelling involved, and that’s the risk you take when you decide you want a South American international player in your squad.
“We do the same with African players. We want them in our squad and we like them as players. We have to accept when they go away to play, their journey times and the problems related to their journeys are much worse than they are for the Europeans.”
As recently reported, Guehi is also absent for the game at Villa Park having injured his hip while away with England.
Rob Holding could make his Crystal Palace debut in defence as a result, with Chris Richards competing to start and James Tomkins unavailable.
Hodgson revealed: “He’s likely to miss the game.
“It’s a problem that we think can be easily managed, or he isn’t unduly worried about, but the game has come too soon unfortunately. Had we had ten days, or even four or five we might have got him fit, but I’m afraid the day’s training he’s done today wasn’t enough time.
“It’s a fairly minor thing. It was just that the impact injury caused it to flare up a little bit has meant he can’t play in this game. It’s not something that’s occurred because he’s trained and played two matches with England. It’s because, in the game against Scotland, he jarred his hip and that has unfortunately exacerbated this minor problem he plays with every week.”
There is currently no official timeframe on Michael Olise’s return from what Hodgson has described as a “very serious” hamstring injury while Matheus Franca is a couple of weeks away from joining training.
