Crystal Palace duo both facing delays in returning from injury

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has revealed that James McArthur and Nathan Ferguson have both had setbacks in their planned returns from injury.

Scottish midfielder McArthur is suffering from a long-term hip injury. Ferguson, who signed for the Eagles in July 2020, has only played eight senior minutes of professional football for the club and has been dogged by injury ever since.

Ferguson, 22, played a half of development-level football against Arsenal in October.

Vieira provided an update on the pair – plus centre-back Chris Richards – after Palace’s 0-0 friendly draw against Brazilian side Botafogo at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

Richards’ ongoing leg injury ruled him out of the USA squad for Qatar.

“We had a step back for Macca and Nathan, but Chris Richards has started training with the team this week and he should be getting minutes against Trabzonspor in the the next game,” Vieira told the South London Press.

“They will travel with the rest of the squad to Turkey. It’s taking a little bit more time, a step back. But both of them are coming to Turkey with the rest of the team and working with the physios in the gym and hopefully Nathan can maybe be the one who can start a little bit more early than Macca.”

Vieira handed game time to 22 of his squad on Saturday.

A handful of key players were missing though, with Ghana’s Jordan Ayew and Denmark’s Joachim Andersen recovering from their World Cup exploits in Qatar. Joel Ward missed the match due to personal reasons.

The Eagles now travel to Turkey for a mid-season winter training camp where they will face Trabzonspor (Wednesday December 7) and Napoli (December 11).

MAIN PICTURE: CPFC/PPA