Crystal Palace handed big injury boost with return to training of long-term absentees

BY SAM SMITH

Crystal Palace have been presented with a significant injury boost after Roy Hodgson revealed that long-term absentees James Tomkins and Mamadou Sakho have returned to training.

Sakho has been sidelined since January after coming off early during Palace’s FA Cup defeat against Wolves. Tomkins had returned following seven months out with a hamstring issue in December, only to suffer a freak eye injury in training.

Hodgson’s side have had a long list of stricken individuals all season which has at time expanded into double figures, but many are now fit. Only James McArthur, Connor Wickham and Nathan Ferguson will miss the trip to Leicester City on Monday.

Defender Gary Cahill has not trained for the last few days but is expected to return in time.

Hodgson said: “We’ve got a lot of players back funnily enough, which is good news. Jeff Schlupp is training again with us, as is Mamadou Sakho and even James Tomkins is out there training. This is as big a group as we have had training for a long time.

“We’re still missing James McArthur, he’s having treatment. Gary Cahill hasn’t trained for the last two or three days because he’s nursing a minor problem, but we’re hoping that he will recover from that by the time Monday comes around.

“Connor Wickham is out on the training field but not training with the squad, as yet. That also applies to Nathan Ferguson. To be honest, we’ve had so many in the past in the treatment room, it seems strange that I can name them so quickly off the top of my head.”