Crystal Palace boss Vieira provides injury update on Eze, Olise and Ferguson

Ahead of Crystal Palace’s first home game of the season against newly-promoted Brentford, Patrick Vieira has provided an update on the trio of Eagles players who have missed the start of the Premier League campaign due to prolonged injuries.

While the South Londoners suffered a 3-0 defeat to Champions League winners Chelsea on the opening day of the season last Saturday, this weekend’s upcoming home game against Brentford will be the first test of note for Vieira as Crystal Palace’s head coach. However, the Frenchman has had to plan his assault on the top-flight this season without three players who were all intended to be crucial aspects of Palace’s rebuild – Eberechi Eze, Nathan Ferguson and Michael Olise.

Olise, who joined in the summer after the Eagles trigged Reading’s £8million buyout clause for the 19-year-old, has had to miss the start of the season due to a back injury which he suffered before joining.

“Michael is feeling much better,” said Vieria. “He has started doing some really light work on the field, so there is some progress on him, but he is still far away from starting training with the team.”

It was reported following the Chelsea loss that Eberechi Eze, who shone last season under Roy Hodgson and became one of the main attacking sparks in the side, is well ahead of schedule in his recovery from the Achilles injury that he suffered before the end of the season.

When asked how Nathan Ferguson’s recovery from the same injury was progressing, Vieira said: “Nathan is in the same way as Eze. Nathan is feeling better. He is improving, but those players haven’t yet started doing work on the field, so they are still doing some work in the gym. It will take a couple of weeks before they start working on the field.”

A series of unfortunate injuries have denied Ferguson a single minute in a Palace shirt since he joined from West Bromwich Albion in July 2020, with the defender only having 21 appearances in professional football to his name. When asked whether Ferguson may need a spell out on loan or time with Palace’s U23 squad, Vieira said: “It’s too early to talk about anything like that. He is a Palace player.

“At the moment, what he needs is our support, the support of the medical staff for him to come back and show how good he is. He is somebody with talent and we have a really strong hope for him to succeed in our football club.”