Crystal Palace midfielder Cheick Doucoure will miss Saturday’s visit of Manchester United after injuring his toe in last week’s draw against Leicester City.
Doucoure’s toe bent into the turf late in the first half following an innocuous challenge by Jordan Ayew.
The 24-year-old was making his first Premier League start since rupturing his achilles in a 2-1 defeat by Luton Town in November, but will now face several more weeks on the sidelines having missed the midweek Carabao Cup victory over Queens Park Rangers.
“I thought I knew any injury in football but he has something with the tendon on the toe that I’d never heard of which is strange,” said Palace manager Oliver Glasner. “We’ll miss him for several weeks because the tendon needs to heal. It’s a bad situation for him but he’ll be back in a couple of weeks.
“He was sad but he had a lot of pain during and after the game. We’re pleased it’s not so serious because it was so painful that we were worried it was a very serious injury. But it’s not. He was out for eight months so several weeks is a short period. He’s already working for his comeback.”
Fellow midfielder Adam Wharton is available having been rested for that win over QPR but Glasner warned that the 20-year-old is still not in the best condition after a whirlwind eight months since joining from Championship side Blackburn Rovers on January’s transfer deadline day.
“Very often we have to manage him so he’s not pain free,” Glasner said. “Some days are better, some are worse. He needed the rest. He played the entire game against Leicester, (so to play against QPR) three days later made no sense. He needed this time to rest but now he’s fit.”
Meanwhile Trevoh Chalobah, on loan from Chelsea, is moving closer to a possible debut after the defender joined team training. He suffered an abdominal injury in his first training session for his new club and will miss the United game but could be in the squad to face Everton on September 28.
Forward Matheus Franca is making good progress in his comeback from a rib injury but Chadi Riad remains absent with a knee injury sustained during Palace’s 4-0 Carabao Cup victory over Norwich City in August.
“He (Chalobah) is progressing but he’s not available tomorrow,” said Glasner.
“He did part of the training session today and we expect him back with the team next week. It’s the same with (Matheus) Franca, who recovered a bit quicker than expected. He had Wednesday and today’s training session with the team. It’s still too early but he will train with us next week. Then it’s just Chadi Riad (who is out).”
(Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
