Crystal Palace have been dealt an injury blow to star player Michael Olise ahead of their Premier League clash with Chelsea.
The attacking midfielder re-injured his hamstring after coming off the bench of Saturday’s 4-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.
The 22-year-old was introduced at halftime when the Eagles were 3-0 down, but lasted just 11 minutes before having to come back off.
It now appears that Olise could spend another two months on the sidelines as he recovers from his latest setback. The Londoner has arguably been the team’s top performer this term, registering nine goal involvements in just 11 appearances.
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson defended his decision to bring Olise on. “I was told he couldn’t start the game and everyone was quite comfortable with that,” he said.
“They (medical staff) told me and he told me he was fine to be on the bench and play in the second half.
“Unfortunately because I don’t have a crystal ball, I have no hindsight, I wasn’t to know that was to lead to him getting a recurrence of his injury, that’s exactly what we did. It’s the same with the hindsight that says you’re losing 3-0 why put one of your better players on.
“The answer to that is we brought him all the way here to be on the bench to play in the second half and we wanted our better players on the field. It’s not easy when you’ve got a player of his quality able to play to just say ‘oh by the way, I know we’ve brought you all the way here to play, I’ve changed my mind, you’ll just have to sit on the bench and watch it’.”
Palace host Chelsea at Selhurst Park next Monday before travelling to Goodison Park to take on Everton.
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