Crystal Palace defender Chris Richards has been ruled out of Wednesday’s clash with Liverpool in the fourth round of the League Cup.
The Eagles travel to Anfield this week to battle Arne Slot’s out-of-form side for a place in the last-eight of the competition.
Liverpool have won just one of their last six outings in all competitions since beating Southampton in the previous round. Palace are winless in four, but beat the Reds on penalties in the Community Shield earlier this season.
Oliver Glasner says the squad’s health is looking “very well” after Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Arsenal, but Richards will miss the trip to Merseyside after picking up a calf problem.
“We’ve just one issue, Chris Richards has a little bit of an issue with his calf, so he won’t make the trip to Liverpool tomorrow,” the manager revealed in his pre-match press conference.
“All the others are fine and recovered well. The players showed at the Emirates that they are fit and they could try to get the equaliser until the final whistle, so it looks positive.”
On whether his injury will keep him out of this weekend’s game against Brentford, Glasner said: “I don’t think so at the moment, but we don’t take any risks because Chris didn’t play against AEK Larnaca – we rested him for that game – so it’s not that his load is high. Let’s see – I can’t tell you more at the moment.”
Glasner added that defender Jaydee Canvot and goalkeeper Walter Benitez will both start against Liverpool as he looks to give his fringe players an opportunity.
“Jaydee will start, and also Walter Benítez will start – they are the two players I can mention today.
“It’s not a gift – they deserve it. Jaydee, I spoke to him and said I don’t care about [his error against Larnaca last week], it’s part of football. He won a lot of duels, and he’s doing well in training. We trust him, and that’s why he will start tomorrow in the back three.
“Walter is the same. He’s doing so well in training, and he deserves to get some minutes as well.”
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