Crystal Palace have been handed an injury blow with the news that James Tomkins will miss the rest of the season.
The defender hobbled off with a groin injury during the second half of their 1-0 victory over Newcastle last week.
It was an injury which looked nasty at the time, and speaking to Football.London after the game, Roy Hodgson admitted that it could be serious.
He said: "He’s obviously damaged something in his groin area but I don’t know what it is.
"We’ll have to scan that but it didn’t look very good.
"If it isn’t good and he’s going to miss games it’ll be a massive, massive blow for us because we’re already missing Sakho for the last five or six games, and Tomkins and Sakho have played a large part in us being where we are today.
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"If I’m going to miss both of them for the last five games of the season it’s a blow. It’s not a minor knock but we’ll have to look into it.”
Tomkins faced a scan for the injury this week and it seems that while his injury is bad news for Palace, it could also be a blow for Liverpool's title challenge.
The Eagles host Manchester City at Selhurst Park this weekend, and the Reds will have been hoping to see Palace pull off a repeat of their 3-2 victory at the Etihad Stadium earlier this season.
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However with the news that Tomkins and Mamadou Sakho will miss out, it appears that Pep Guardiola's side will certainly have an advantage when they travel south for the game on Sunday.
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