Crystal Palace are sweating on the fitness of winger Wilfried Zaha after it emerged that he picked up a knock while on international duty with Ivory Coast.
Zaha missed the Elephant’s loss to England on Tuesday night and according to his national team manager Patrice Beaumelle, the player suffered a hamstring injury in the 2-1 loss against France.
“After the first game, he felt something painful behind the hamstring. Because we flew (to England) the following day after the game against France, when we arrived, as he is from here, it was quite easy for us to get an x-ray and he had a grade one or two on the hamstring,” Beaumelle said when asked about Zaha’s absence.
Beaumelle added that the player was sad for not coming up against England as it has always been one of his dreams to play against them.
“He was sad, me as well, because, for me, he should have played this game. For him, it was a dream to play England. This is football, and I have to understand as well that players have a busy schedule, and we can’t take any risks.
“With hamstrings, if it is bad, then it’s six weeks or maybe two months – we could not take any risks. Unfortunately for me, for him, and for the squad,” he added.
The Eagles have a FA Cup semi-final clash against Chelsea in mid-April along with Monday night’s home game against Arsenal.
