Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise is expected to be out for two months with his latest hamstring injury.
In a major blow for Palace and their chances of avoiding a relegation scrap, Olise faces another significant spell on the sidelines.
The 22-year-old missed the first three months of the season with a hamstring injury and tweaked his hamstring again during last week’s 3-2 win over Sheffield United.
He was deemed fit again to come off the bench at half-time of Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Brighton but lasted just 11 minutes before he pulled up attempting his first sprint.
Palace manager Roy Hodgson defended his handling of Olise after the match, saying: “I was told he couldn’t start the game and everyone was quite comfortable with that.
“They (the medical staff) told me and he told me he was fine to be on the bench and play in the second half. Unfortunately, because I don’t have a crystal ball, I have no hindsight; I wasn’t to know that was to lead to him getting a recurrence of his injury; that’s exactly what we did.”
Palace defender Marc Guehi suffered a knee injury at Brighton but is expected to be out for weeks rather than months.
Eberechi Eze missed the Brighton game with his own hamstring problem, while winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi was forced off with an injury while on the comeback trail playing for Palace Unedr-21s on Monday.
