Crystal Palace will be without Jefferson Lerma for at least their next three matches due to a hamstring injury he suffered in last Sunday’s 1-0 win at Liverpool.
The Colombian will definitely miss games against London rivals West Ham on Sunday, Newcastle next Wednesday, and Fulham next Saturday.
The Eagles will make final decisions on Saturday as to whether to risk doubts Chris Richards, Will Hughes and Joel Ward against West Ham this weekend.
There is some good news for the Eagles, though, with manager Oliver Glasner confirming centre-back Rob Holding will feature in the match-day squad for the first time since November after recovering after ankle surgery.
“We have one player who was injured at Liverpool and it is Jeff Lerma, so we will miss him at least until Man United, so for this week with three games in seven days”, Glasner said.
“It’s in his hamstring. It was a bit unlucky — one of the 30 sprints against [Mohamed] Salah he had. He wanted to be substituted but we couldn’t do it, it was the end of the game, so he finished the game but could feel it afterwards. We’ve now got the results [of his scan].
“I’m pleased that Rob Holding is back. He trained the whole week with us and he will be in the squad.”
Glasner, 49, added: “We have three question marks. It’s Chris Richards — the first time he trained with us was today [Friday], but it was a very easy session — Joel Ward, who also had issues this week with his groin, and Will Hughes who got a knock yesterday in training and couldn’t train today.
“Hughes was knocked down by Adam Wharton in yesterday's training session. Adam is working in the gym every day and I said ‘Now you're able to knock Will Hughes down, so it’s progress’”, he joked.
“These three players we will take the final decision tomorrow and that’s it. Nobody else is coming back.”
