Crystal Palace are looking to win three games in a row for the first time in 2023 as they head to St Mary’s Stadium to take on relegation-threatened Southampton on Saturday afternoon.
The return of Roy Hodgson to the Eagles dugout has proved inspiring, with Palace having won their last two games, most recently a 5-1 thrashing of Leeds United.
Clear of the relegation battle now, they can still have a massive say on who drops into the Championship, and face a Saints side that currently sit bottom of the Premier League and four points from safety.
Here’s how we expect the South Londoners to line up, and how Hodgson’s walking wounded are shaping up.
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The main headline of Hodgson’s injury woes is that Wilfried Zaha is not expected to be back until the end of the month after picking up a groin injury against Leicester City.
‘It’s a groin strain, there’s no question about that. He’s having treatment, but I’m hopeful that sometime towards the end of the month we’ll be able to welcome him back. The doctors and physios won’t put a timescale on it.’
‘The double whammy was when Vicente brought up the subject of his calf at half-time (vs Leicester). Unfortunately, he has a similar degree of calf strain, and we have to wait now to see how quickly our doctors can get [him] back’, Hodgson explained.
Nathan Ferguson is another that is set to miss the clash with the Saints, with the young defender ‘not far away’ but Saturday’s trip to the south coast may come too soon.
Odsonne Edouard and Chris Richards could well both be back after missing the thrashing of Leeds last weekend, however, which will be a massive boost for Roy Hodgson’s side.
