Crystal Palace will be without Michael Olise for the remainder of the season after the winger picked up a knock in the lead up to the 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
Olise was left out of the matchday squad for the trip to Villa Park, where Jeffrey Schlupp cancelled out Ollie Watkins' second-half opener to salvage a point from the game. Palace boss Patrick Vieira was asked in his post-match press conference why Olise had been left out of the squad for the trip, with the manager confirming the injury to the 19-year-old. "Michael was injured," said the Frenchman. "He had a step back and will not play again this season."
The injury means Olise will now miss the midweek trip to Everton as well as the final game of the season at Selhurst Park next Sunday against Manchester United. Results in those matches could see Palace break into the top half of the Premier League, though they will need to be more ruthless in front of goal to accomplish that.
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The Eagles started their game well at Villa Park but, not for the first time this season, struggled to convert any of their chances into goals. Palace had two good chances through full-back Nathaniel Clyne before half-time before, after the break, they came close once again when chances fell to both Conor Gallagher and Wilfried Zaha, with the latter twisting and turning in the Villa box but unable to get his shot away.
They were made to rue their wasted opportunities with 20 minutes to go as Ollie Watkins handed the home side the lead inside the six-yard box following a pick out from Lucas Digne. The Englishman tussled with Marc Guehi in the box but managed to squeeze his shot into the corner of Jack Butland's net as he and Guehi fell to the floor, with VAR adjudging there to be no foul following a short check.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Vieira rued Palace's inability to score more goals when dominating play, telling reporters: "We tried our best but when we get to the last third we don't always make the right decisions. Of course, we need to keep working and improving but this is one of the areas that next year will need to be better. There was space for us with the chances we created and we should score more than one goal."
