Glasner needs senior faces to return
- Published
Crystal Palace's season has yet to get up and running.
The Eagles have just one win in the Premier League season and have been hit with injuries to a number of key players.
Adam Wharton underwent surgery at the beginning of this month and it is hoped he will be able to recover after around four weeks.
Jefferson Lerma has been out with a hamstring injury but is nearing a return and Cheick Doucoure has also had fitness issues.
All of those issues meant that Palace had to call on an unconventional midfield pairing of captain and centre-back Marc Guehi alongside 21-year-old Justin Devenny, who made his Premier League debut against Fulham.
Palace have difficult games against Aston Villa and Newcastle in their next two matches and manager Oliver Glasner will be hoping he can have some of his senior players back for those games - fixtures Palace would have found hard to get a result from even during better times.
Villa have had their own dip in form but are just one point off third place. Regardless, Palace can go into the match with optimism after beating them in the Carabao Cup, which set up a quarter-final tie with Arsenal.
Glasner is still backed by the Palace hierarchy but Palace need to start getting results to move themselves up the table and out of the relegation zone.
