Crystal Palace will be without eight first-team players for their visit to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday after Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton were ruled out until after the international break.
Eze sustained a hamstring problem in the first half of Palace’s 2-1 Carabao Cup victory over Aston Villa on Wednesday night, while manager Oliver Glasner revealed Wharton will undergo surgery on a long-standing groin injury.
They join Chris Richards, Chadi Riad and Jefferson Lerma and Matheus Franca on the sidelines, leaving Glasner with only 12 available senior players — with Rob Holding banished to train with the under-21 side.
“We will miss him at least against Wolves and Fulham, then let’s see.” Glasner said of Eze, who scored the opening goal against Villa with a powerful header.
“It’s very ambitious to have him back after the international break, but we have a great medical department.”
The Palace boss believes his side has so many injuries because of the gruelling schedule over the summer with Euro 2024 and Copa America, where Palace had six finalists across both tournaments — including Eze, Wharton, Lerma and Daniel Munoz.
But he insists it is not something he will complain about and that many other clubs are facing the same problems.
“We took the final decision (with Wharton), he will have surgery so won’t be available for Wolves. He tried but he’s in too much pain. It makes no sense (to keep playing him), he has struggled over the last weeks and months. We hope to have him back in four weeks.
“Jeff (Lerma) is out at least until the international break. Many managers are talking about the same issues. Our injured players all played a long tournament in summer, with no holiday, no pre-season then many games.
“There is a moment when you pay the bill, we have had to pay it the last few weeks. But it’s still a strong squad and we won at Villa. It was 1-1 at Villa (when Eze and Wharton went off). This gives us confidence.
“We go to Wolverhampton to win the game, we don’t complain about injuries or that they didn’t play during the week. We want to play this cup, the players did really great at Villa. We want to continue this winning streak.”
Daniel Munoz has been managing a slight hamstring problem since the first half of Palace’s 1-0 defeat by Liverpool last month which kept him out of international duty with Colombia, with Glasner suggesting he may be afforded a rest at some point.
There is some relief for Palace with injuries as defender Riad, who injured his knee in the Carabao Cup second round win over Norwich, is expected to return after the international break, alongside fellow centre-back Chris Richards.
Meanwhile, Cheick Doucoure has recovered from his toe injury sustained in the 2-2 draw with Leicester City in September and will be available for Saturday’s match with Wolves.
(Top photos: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images, Warren Little/Getty Images)
