Hodgson gives latest team news pre-Chelsea
Roy Hodgson says Crystal Palace’s spate of injuries has proved ‘incredible bad luck’, as his side prepare to take on Chelsea at Selhurst Park without a number of key players – but says that a number of younger players have the potential to step up to fill that void.
Michael Olise and Marc Guéhi withdrew against Brighton & Hove Albion last time out, while Ebere Eze missed out altogether.
“We have lost all three of them, there is no question that it is a massive blow,” Hodgson confirmed at his pre-match press conference. “In particular after the Sheffield United game, when we were really thinking we were going to be OK now we have got these guys back, and just the opposite has occurred.
“Furthermore Michael has picked up another serious injury which is absolutely devastating for him, for the club, for everyone really. Strangely enough, it was one of those situations where so many things went wrong that could have gone right, but we don’t have hindsight.
“It was the perfect storm in every respect, but injuries do happen. That is the bottom line. They happened in this game, and now we are trying to seek reasons why exactly could it have happened when it happened, but it could have happened at any time. There is no question of that. He could have come on for five minutes and done that, he could have not come on at all and then done it in the first training session here.
“For me, it’s another element of incredible bad luck we have suffered recently. To lose those two and Marc Guéhi in the same period of time, and add to that [Cheick] Doucouré that we’ve had to come to terms with, that is four of the players most important to the club and the team last season we don’t have anymore.
“What do we do? We make sure we get on with it, we make certain we do our best to prepare the team that are there to play, and you hope that some of them are going to come up and show elements of their play that we haven’t seen because they haven’t been given the chance up to now.”
Hodgson confirmed that Guéhi’s return to the side could come soonest, but that Jesurun Rak-Sakyi’s recovery has taken a setback.
“[Olise and Eze] are both hamstrings, but Marc Guéhi has jarred his knee,” he said. “Guéhi is just a question of time until that jarring passes and he gets full flexibility in his knee, so it doesn’t necessarily need to be a particularly long injury.
“But unfortunately the issue is with hamstrings. We suffered another one with Jes Rak-Sakyi. He has also managed to pick up another hamstring strain after doing so well to get back.
"[He spent] two weeks with us in training but the first time he went out to play a game with the Under-21s, he pulled up after 15 minutes, so we’ve lost another important player there.”
With such key players injured, Hodgson says young Academy players like David Ozoh can step up, as well as youthful signings like Naouirou Ahamada and Matheus França.
“Our squad is getting so much smaller and they play in the area where we are missing players,” Hodgson said. “Both [Ahamada and França] have benefitted from time [here].
“They understand more what we are trying to do and their game is constantly improving. Now for them, when they get a chance, they have to really grasp that.
“França has had more chances than Ahamada in actual fact, but when they have come on in recent games they have been sharp, they have been lively and they have shown they understand what we are trying to do.
“There is no reason to suggest that they are not getting closer to the team.”
Match details
- Monday, 12th February
- 20:00 GMT
- Selhurst Park
- Sky Sports