CRYSTAL Palace got a number of boosts this week with several players available after absences – but boss Oliver Glasner has revealed Eberech Eze is not one of them.
The Eagles travel to Aston Villa on Saturday aiming to improve on just one Premier League this season.
“Will Hughes will be back after his suspension. Chris Richards is available. Jefferson Lerma is back and available,” Glasner said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“Cheick Doucoure is ready to start after two weeks of very good training and Ebs would like to be involved in tomorrow’s game but I’ve taken the decision not to take him with us to Villa.
“It’s a little bit too risky. He trained during the week but it’s too near to when it happened and when you see our schedule, we can’t take any risks.”
Glasner added: “I had a long chat with him today because he’s very ambitious, he’s a great guy and he works really hard.
“He wanted to be with us, he felt like he was ready.
“Of course, I want him to play but we have to protect him and therefore yes we lose him for one game but we have 15 games in December and January and we need him for 15 games not just for one.”
Villa boss Unai Emery, meanwhile, has his own injury concerns.
He was asked who was unavailable. He replied: “[Ezri] Konsa, Amadou Onana, [Boubacar] Kamara and [Jacob] Ramsey.
“We are adding other players [to training] after small injuries like Cash and Barkley. We are going to try to feel confident with the players we have in the squad, trying to be ready when the opportunity to play is coming for them.
Pressed on Konsa and Onana specifically, he said: “They have small injuries.
“They have to rest and recover. Each day is important. Maybe [they] could come back for the next match, but I have to focus on the players we have now.”
