Crystal Palace's Chris Richards _(Image: PA)_
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Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner revealed centre-back Chris Richards will miss Wednesday’s trip to Southampton with a calf problem.
The 25-year-old picked up a knock at the end of Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final win over Fulham, ruling him out of Wednesday’s Premier League match.
United States international Richards had started Palace’s ten previous league games, making the spot his own after Trevoh Chalobah's loan from Chelsea was curtailed in mid-January.
Although he will be absent at St Mary’s tomorrow, Eagles boss Glasner expects the defender to be available for the weekend’s grudge match against Brighton.
"We will miss Chris Richards tomorrow, Glasner shared. “He is struggling a bit with his calf. It doesn’t look very serious, so we expect him to be back for Brighton at the weekend but tomorrow is too early.
“At the end of the game, he felt like (he had) a cramp in his calf. We thought it was cramp and this (can happen) very often after travelling, he played in LA with a nine-hour time difference and a 12-13-hour flight.
“It’s not a heavy injury but we know we can’t take any risks. If the muscle ruptures then he’s out for four to six weeks.
“That wouldn’t have been a big problem in March where we had two games but now we have seven in April and we want (all) the players available.”