Roy Hodgson's hopes of getting Crystal Palace back on the front foot against Tottenham have been bolstered by the return of Wilfried Zaha for this evening’s derby.
The Eagles have gone back to basics at the back in the absence of their talisman through a hamstring injury, but have lacked teeth in the opposing penalty box.
However, Hodgson is hopeful that his return as a substitute as well as that of Jeffrey Schlupp will give them a helping hand.
“He’s trained well this week,” said Hodgson. “There’s no reason why I can’t consider him for a place in the team.
“He’s missed lots of games for us in that period of time, but he’s still come back quicker than the medical department thought might be possible because of his incredible powers of recovery.
“We’re really pleased to have him back, as well as Jeff Schlupp. It’s good to see him back as well, so that’s two of the important players we’ve been missing in the last five or six games back with us again.”
Crystal Palace XI: Guaita, Ward, Kouyate, Cahill, van Aanholt, Townsend, Riedewald, Milivojevic, Eze, Ayew, Benteke
Subs: Butland, Dann, Zaha, Mateta, Schlupp, Wickham, Batshuayi, Kelly, Hannam
Sunday 7.15pm, Sky Sports
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Crystal Palace squad from: Guaita, Butland, Henderson, Van Aanholt, Hannam, Dann, Cahill, Ward, Kelly, Kouyate, Townsend, Riedewald, Eze, Schlupp, Zaha, Ayew, Benteke, Batshuayi, Mateta, Wickham
Injury list: Ferguson (knee), Hennessey (thigh), Tomkins (eye), McArthur, Clyne, Mitchell
