Roy Hodgson says Michael Olise is in the running to return when Crystal Palace welcome Sheffield United to Selhurst Park on Tuesday night, with the 21-year-old set to return to first-team training after recovering. too bad
“He’s available – he’s training now,” Hodgson confirmed. “It’s clear that we have to be careful and people in sports science are urging caution, we’ll see.”
“He himself feels that he is fine, so I myself have no worries, but we have to keep an eye on it because it has been a long time since his last game.”
The overall condition of the team has improved significantly after the unfortunate injuries during the festivities.
“The injury situation is funny, pretty good,” Hodgson said. “This is in stark contrast to the situation a few weeks ago.
“The only players we can’t call up are the two who had surgery, Cheick Doucouré and Rob Holding.
“Joel Ward is still not [also] fully fit but he’s pretty close now so don’t take a long time before. let’s get him back too.
“At this point in the season, it’s pretty good that only those three players missing.”
Hodgson confirmed the club were keen to bring in new faces during the January window but were more focused on keeping the current squad fit and ready for Premier League action.
“Players’ recovery from injuries has a huge impact to the team we put on the field and even the way we play,” he explained” I am not ready to say that the next part of the season necessarily depends on transfers and players coming to the club.
“This is more about how well this group of players we believe in can play and they have shown over a long period of time that they are more than capable of holding their own in the division”
“But of course as a manager you always have small gaps in your thinking when you put your team together and your team where you think it would be good to have another player in that position to compete and maybe help us move ahead “
