Before playing an hour and scoring two goals past AZ Alkmaar, Ismaila Sarr (£6.6m) told his Crystal Palace boss, Oliver Glasner, about a tiny hamstring issue.
Speaking in the aftermath of Thursday’s game, Glasner was confident that his squad had come through unscathed, ahead of Sunday’s A23 derby against Brighton and Hove Albion.
“All others look fine. A few knocks. Marc [Guéhi] had one at the end, but he said he’s fine. At the moment, it looks like all players who were involved in today’s squad will be available.” – Oliver Glasner
That presumably includes Sarr.
“He mentioned yesterday, very, very small tightness in his hamstring and the doctor told me and then I said, “Hey, we have a game on Sunday as well”. Then he plays for Senegal, fortunately here in London. So yeah, again, we have to manage the minutes. This is what we could do today.” – Oliver Glasner on Ismaila Sarr
Meanwhile, Adam Wharton (£5.0m) returned from illness to make a second-half Conference League cameo.
“He is still feeling his chest. He’s not completely free. Sometimes you need to cough it out. I hope this will happen now, let’s see. It was good for him to play 30 minutes [against Alkmaar].
“Also, for me, he felt a little bit rusty at the beginning, moving a little bit slow. That’s why we wanted him to play the 30 minutes because, again, we will have just recovery in the next two days. Therefore, it was important for him to raise his heart frequency and get a little bit of intensity.
“I think he did better and better during the game. If it’s enough to start against Brighton, I don’t know at the moment.” – Oliver Glasner on Adam Wharton
Rio Cardines (£4.4m, abductor) missed out with a minor issue, plus Eddie Nketiah (£5.4m, hamstring), Cheick Doucoure (£4.9m, knee) and Caleb Kporha (£4.0m, back) are still unavailable.
Long-term knee absentee Chadi Riad (£4.0m) is back in training.
defensive contributions