Oliver Glasner has shared a serious injury update on Eberechi Eze ahead of Crystal Palace’s Premier League clash at Fulham.
Palace travel to Craven Cottage on Saturday trying to bounce back after a disappointing 2-1 home loss to Everton last week.
While results at Selhurst Park have been dreadful, the Eagles are soaring with their away form having not lost on the road since visiting Nottingham Forest in October.
Furthermore, they’ve kept a clean sheet of their last 4 away games, picking up wins against Leicester, West Ham and Manchester United.
England star Eze was a key player in these victories despite scuffling with a long-term injury niggle.
The attacking midfielder was only fit enough to begin from the bench within the last two league matches and missed the FA Cup fourth round win at Doncaster Rovers amid fears of worsening the injury.
But speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Glasner said Eze needs to be fit enough to begin the match against Fulham.
‘It was a very good week for him personally, and he’s convalescing and higher along with his foot,’ the Palace manager said on Friday.
‘I feel he’s ready to begin. The identical as last week – all players are fit, everyone trained the entire week. It’s good.’
Fulham might be a tricky opponent, with Marco Silva’s men eighth within the table and pushing to qualify for Europe for the primary time since 2011.
Given the Cottagers’ form, Glasner was asked whether he would give Chelsea loanee Ben Chilwell his first start for Palace, especially after first-choice left-back Tyrick Mitchell had an awful game against Everton, gifting the Toffees their opening goal.
‘I feel 90 to 95 percent of the choices we take are after we see how fine condition our players are in, how they perform within the last game, and what we are able to expect from them,’ the Austrian replied.
‘After which, perhaps, in a single or two situations we expect “okay, due to set-plays, perhaps we want a tall player” or something like this, but each Tyrick Mitchell and Ben Chilwell have the standard to defend Adama Traoré.
‘It’s not only him – even along with his pace and power, then he crosses, after which we now have to defend the box against Raul Jimenez, Emile Smith Rowe… so it’s not only him. It’s a team effort.’
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