Crystal Palace injury news ahead of Manchester City – midfielder hit with illness earlier in the week

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira says he has ‘options’ to replace the suspended Cheick Doucoure for their clash with Manchester City on Saturday.

The Eagles boss also revealed that Will Hughes had been suffering will illness at the beginning of the week.

The South Londoners have only won one of their last 14 outings in all competitions and are without a win in 2023.

City head to Selhurst Park second in the Premier League and five points off league leaders Arsenal.

The Eagles will be without the summer signing after he was issued with two yellow cards in the second half against Aston Villa last weekend.

Doucoure, 23, has featured 23 times this season in the Premier League under Vieira.

“Yes, of course, Cheick is an important player for us,” the French manager said.

“But he is suspended and other players will have the chance to play. We have a couple of options – we tried the different options this week.

“The majority of the players trained all week.

“Will Hughes was sick at the start of the week. He trained today – we will have to see how he is tomorrow.”

Doucoure has picked up eight yellow cards in his debut Premier League campaign.

When asked if he had spoken to the midfielder about this disciplinary record, Vieira said: “We spoke about it.

“When you are a defensive holding midfielder, you want to win those balls. Sometimes you are late to those challenges.

“We spoke about it, but I don’t want him to change the way he is playing. It’s something that is important for us as a team.

“I don’t want him to change his game.”