ROY Hodgson has confirmed Marc Guehi will miss Crystal Palace’s trip to Aston Villa tomorrow after coming off injured for England earlier this week.
The central defender was replaced at half-time in the Three Lions’ 3-1 win over Scotland at Hampden Park on Tuesday after aggravating an earlier hip problem.
And although the issue isn’t deemed to be a long-term one, Hodgson revealed it would mean the 23-year-old will not be involved at Villa Park.
He said: “Yes, he is likely to miss the game tomorrow.
“Rob Holding is ok. He has done well since he came in.
“We are happy with him and are fortunate too that Chris Richards has come back fit and well from his two matches with the American national team, so we have players who can cover Marc Guehi’s injury.
“Albeit we are sad to lose him because he is a key member of our first starting XI by choice.
“We don’t know how long he will be out for yet but we hope not (for long).
“It’s a problem that we think can be easily managed and he isn’t unduly worried about, but tomorrow has come too soon unfortunately.
“Had we 10 days, or even four or five days, we might have got him fit but I’m afraid with a day’s training he has done today it wasn’t enough time.”
Hodgson added: “It is a fairly minor thing, it was just that the impact injury caused it to flare up a little bit which has meant he can’t play in this game.
“It is not something which has occurred because he has trained and played too much when he was with England, it is because in the game against Scotland he jarred his hip.
“That has unfortunately exacerbated this minor problem that he plays with every week.”
The Eagles boss also revealed Jefferson Lerma will be absent for the Villa game after he picked up an injury while representing Colombia.
Hodgson said: “He has had a scan this morning so I can’t give you any details but it is to do with his hamstring.
“They don’t know how serious that is either. It can be that he played two times for 90 minutes, he has travelled first to Colombia, then to Chile and then back to England.
“He didn’t arrive back until fairly late on Thursday morning and made his way straight to the training ground to see the medical staff and report the fact he felt a slight problem in his hamstring.
“Today he has gone for the scan but I’m hoping that will be more of a result of 2 x 90 minutes or the travelling involved.
“It is one of the risks you take when you decide you want a South American player in your squad.”
