Patrick Vieira has confirmed that Jordan Ayew has returned to training before Crystal Palace’s home match with Liverpool and will be available for the game.
The striker had been on international duty with Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations, but returned to England following the Black Stars’ exit from the tournament.
He leaves teammates Wilfried Zaha and Cheikhou Kouyaté in Cameroon with Senegal and Ivory Coast respectively.
Discussing whether Ayew is ready to start after his involvement, Vieira said: “We don’t know, we still have a couple of days before the game. He was in today and took part in the first part of training. We will have a discussion tomorrow [Saturday] to find out how he’s feeling.”
Meanwhile Liverpool are without Egypt’s Mo Salah, Senegal’s Sadio Mané and Guinea’s Naby Kieta, however Vieira cautioned they are a powerful team regardless.
“This is a team,” the Palace manager said. “It’s not just about those two players they’re missing. Obviously with those two [Salah and Mané] they’re stronger but there are still players playing really well with fantastic talents.
“The best way to describe this team before talking about the individual talent is as a team. This is a strong team.”
He went on speaking about Jürgen Klopp’s men, looking back on the clash at Anfield and saying: “There were positives to take from that game because we created enough to score a couple but on the other side we came home with a loss and conceded three goals. Analysing that game we knew it was one we needed to improve.
“I think the team is getting better but we’re not there yet. Liverpool, I believe, is one of the greatest teams in Europe. The way they play, they might win or might lose, but you’ll enjoy watching because of the intensity.
“It’s going to be a challenge for us but our record at home has been good and we have to give them the game they expect: a difficult one.”
