Crystal Palace striker Eddie Nketiah _(Image: Keith Gillard)_
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has issued a detailed squad update ahead of the Community Shield clash with Liverpool on Sunday.
The Eagles will kick off their new campaign at Wembley this weekend in the traditional curtain-raiser between the Premier League champions and FA Cup holders.
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Palace are expected to name the same starting XI that secured major silverware for the first time in the club’s history at Wembley — with that lineup also featuring in the club’s final pre-season friendly against Augsburg last week.
However, the squad has been hit with several injury setbacks, with Eddie Nketiah and Caleb Kporha both expected to face extended spells on the sidelines.
Brazilian midfielder Matheus Franca will also miss Palace’s first appearance in the Community Shield, though Glasner is hopeful he could return to training within the next ten days.
“Eddie Nketiah has missed the majority of pre-season,” said Glasner. “He had a small injury two days into pre-season and now he has a more serious one.
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“He’ll be out for eight weeks with a hamstring injury. Without a pre-season, it’ll take him three or four more weeks to be ready – so it could be three months out.
“Caleb Kporha has problems with his back. He’s unable to train and has been out for the whole of pre-season. We don’t know when he will return.
“Unfortunately, Matheus Franca is injured again. It’s a problem with the adductor muscle. Not his groin, where he had the problems before.
“He’s missed the whole pre-season after being injured for more or less the last two years. Let’s see, he should return in maybe ten days. But he missed another pre-season and this is tricky.
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"Rio Cardines, one of our academy players, will be in the squad at Wembley."
Longer-term absentees Cheick Doucoure and Chadi Riad have experienced mixed fortunes this summer.
Riad, signed from Barcelona for £14 million last summer, suffered an MCL injury in only his second game for the club, before picking up an ACL injury during his recovery, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.
_(Image: Keith Gillard)_ Doucoure was also sidelined with an ACL injury, though with a shorter recovery timeline than Riad.
Glasner had targeted Doucoure to return to team training ahead of last week’s pre-season camp in Austria, but the midfielder has suffered a further setback and will now miss at least the first two months of the season.
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Riad, however, remains on track with his recovery, and Glasner believes he could be in contention by the end of October.
“We hoped that Cheicky could return for the Austrian training camp. It looks like Chadi can return from his ACL in October or November. With Cheicky’s setback, it looks like his timeline is more or less the same. We hope he can return in October or November.
“Doucoure isn't in training. He is such a lovely guy. It's really tough for him. It's been almost two years since he has been in regular training and full rhythm. He gets all the support from the club, but he won't be back in the next couple of months."