Crystal Palace have been handed another key injury blow, as star player Eberechi Eze is now expected to miss the next few games.
Eze limped off the pitch in Saturday’s defeat to Luton Town with an ankle injury, but told reporters after the game that he expected to be “alright.”
The same could not be said of Cheick Doucoure, who could now miss the rest of the season after being stretchered off in the same game.
Crystal Palace have now learned how long Eze will be out for, and they will be incredibly frustrated to lose him after he just returned from a different injury.
A report from the Daily Mail has now revealed that Eze is set to miss the next three to four weeks of action, and given Palace’s fixture list, this injury comes at a disastrous time.
Palace face crucial matches against West Ham and Bournemouth which will give them a chance to put some further distance between themselves and the bottom three, before a tough run which will see Roy Hodgson’s side play against Liverpool, Manchester City, Brighton and Chelsea.
Failure to pick up a point before this run could be a disaster, and Eze would have been crucial for what will be a challenging period for the club.
Palace are not blessed with options to replace Eze, and attempting to fill the void left by both him and Doucoure at the same time will be a difficult task.
Losing Eze, who has been described as “incredible” by teammate Joel Ward, is a major blow given his importance in the middle of the park.
It may now be time for big-money summer signing Matheus Franca to get a chance in the middle of the park, but it is unclear if Hodgson trusts the Brazilian enough yet to throw him in from the start.
Another option would be to start Naouirou Ahamada for the first time this season. The 21-year-old has appeared in the Premier League seven times in this campaign, but all of his appearances have come from the bench.
Hodgson needs to find a solution quickly, as he is already under a bit more pressure to start turning results and performances around.
Leave a Reply