Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has provided a fresh injury update on his squad ahead of their Premier League trip to Leicester on Sunday.
The Eagles are currently in their best form of the season, winning three of their last four matches and keeping clean sheets in all of them while also going unbeaten away from home so far in 2022. That sets them up well to go after another positive result against the Foxes on Sunday, who drew 0-0 with Dutch outfit PSV in the first leg of their Europa Conference League quarter-final on Thursday night.
They will have to do that without a key player though, as Vieira confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon that winger Michael Olise would miss the trip due to an ongoing foot injury. The 20-year-old returned back from international duty with France’s Under-21s with the issue and missed Monday night’s 3-0 win over Arsenal because of the problem.
READ MORE: Crystal Palace press conference LIVE: Patrick Vieira on Leicester, Michael Olise injury and more
Vieira said in his post-match comments to the media that Olise was unlikely to recover in time for the trip to the King Power Stadium, with those fears then confirmed on Friday that the winger would not travel.
"He is not going to be available for the Leicester game," said the Frenchman. "There is progress and the plan for him is to start working outside next week so there is a chance he will be part of the squad (for Chelsea)."
His miss will be a blow for Palace, though Vieira will be pleased that Jordan Ayew, who played in place of Olise on the right-wing against the Gunners, took his chance with both hands after scoring the Eagles' second goal of the night with a neat finish past Aaron Ramsdale from just inside the box.
Palace fans will be hoping Olise can fully recover in time for their next game after Leicester, which sees them travel to Wembley to take on Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final on April 17. Vieira’s side won’t have talisman Conor Gallagher available for the game due to being unable to face his parent club, meaning if Olise were to miss out too then it’d be a huge blow to not have two key players available.
Vieira also confirmed that Nathan Ferguson would be unavailable for the trip to Leicester after suffering another injury setback. The young full-back has struggled with injuries since arriving at Palace in 2020 and will now spend a short time on the sidelines once again.
