Crystal Palace face a race against time when it comes to Jean-Philippe Mateta's availability for their Sunday afternoon clash with Manchester City.
The talismanic striker missed his first game of the season on Thursday evening as he sat out the Eagles' 3-0 win away to Shelbourne in the Conference League.
Crystal Palace had been managing Mateta's fitness over the previous few weeks after he returned from international duty last month with a minor knee issue.
Jean-Philippe Mateta injury latest ahead of Crystal Palace vs Manchester City
Oliver Glasner's side did not miss Mateta over in Dublin on Thursday night, with Christantus Uche, Eddie Nketiah and Yeremy Pino all getting on the scoresheet in the first half.
But the Palace manager will be keen to have Mateta back involved in Sunday's 2pm kick-off as Manchester City come to Selhurst Park.
Speaking earlier this week, Glasner seemed optimistic that Mateta may be able to be return to action for that Premier League clash. Mateta ranked at no.22 in FourFourTwo's list of the best Premier League players of the season last term.
Glasner said: "JP ... needs to rest. He came back with a minor injury from the French national team, and we had to manage his knee the whole time.
"There was a little bit of swelling, and he just didn't feel well. He stayed at home.
"The plan is that he will return to training on Friday, and then he should be available."
Palace meanwhile continue to assess Ismaila Sarr's ankle injury in hopes he too may be able to feature on Sunday, even if they are then likely to lose him to international duty as Senegal head into the Africa Cup of Nations.
Daniel Munoz is definitely ruled out after suffering a knee injury that looks set to keep him out of action until January.
Palace face an extremely busy run of games over the next few weeks as they face games in the Premier League, Conference League, and Carabao Cup before beginning their FA Cup defence next month.
The Eagles' victory over Fulham last weekend took them up to fourth in the Premier League table.
