New blow for Leeds United visitors Crystal Palace as first choice joins star man on sidelines

Talisman Palace striker Wilfried Zaha suffered a groin strain in last weekend’s 2-1 victory at home to Leicester City in boss Roy Hodgson’s first game back in charge of the Eagles. Zaha pulled up sharply and went to ground as he looked to make his way into the Foxes penalty area towards the end of the first half. The 30-year-old was unable to continue and left the pitch close to tears, casting huge doubt as to his availability for Sunday’s clash against Leeds.

Speaking at Friday’s pre-match press conference, Eagles boss Hodgson confirmed that Zaha would definitely be out and that first choice keeper Vicente Guaita had also suffered a fresh injury blow. Guaita has started 27 of Palace’s 29 league games this season and played the full duration of last weekend’s win against Leicester but the Spanish keeper now has a calf problem. His injury has left four Palace players out with Chris Richards and Nathan Ferguson close to returning but still sidelined. Richards and Ferguson both missed out against Leicester due to minor issues.

“Richards did join in a part of training today, while Ferguson is expected to come back next week,” said Hodgson. "They can't be considered for the game against Leeds, but they’re not far away now."

Providing the latest on Zaha, the Palace boss said: “It’s a groin strain, there's no question about that. We’re looking after him, he’s having treatment. The doctors and physios won’t put a timestamp on it, but there's a double-whammy with Vicente Guaita.

"He [Vicente] brought up his calf injury at half-time, and with our game coming up against Leeds we have to wait and see what our doctors say about him.

"It’s hard to cope without a player of Wilf’s calibre. It’s not just us, it’s any team in the league - if you lose a player of such importance and such quality, you’re going to miss him, there's no doubt about it.

“We’re lucky, in a sense, with Jordan Ayew and Jean-Philippe Mateta, as they’re bursting at the seams for an opportunity and with the game against Leeds we can see what they can do.”