‘Up in the air’ – Roy Hodgson provides Eberechi Eze injury update as Crystal Palace attacker looks to make swift recovery

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson has revealed that Eberechi Eze believes he can return to training from injury in the coming days – but the medical staff believe that the Greenwich-born attacker will be out for a “longer period” of time.

Eze suffered ankle ligament damage in Palace’s 2-1 defeat at Luton Town last Saturday, coming off early in the second half for Jordan Ayew.

He was expected to miss up to four weeks due to the injury.

The 25-year-old missed the 1-1 draw against West Ham on Sunday afternoon, with Will Hughes taking his place in the starting line-up.

Hodgson revealed in his pre-West Ham press conference on Friday that Eze was set to see a surgeon to determine the full extent of his injury.

“The update is up in the air,” said Hodgson.

“Eze is seemingly of the opinion that he’s going to get over this opinion very quickly, whereas the medical staff think he’s going to be out for long periods of time.

“I know what I want, but I don’t know what I’m going to get – I shall see.

“He’s going to attempt to train with us over the next couple of days, which is great. 

“That is extremely positive, but I don’t know just how optimistic I can be.

“The medical people are telling me that the injury is such that it will take a longer period of time to recover from.”