Oliver Glasner confirms double Crystal Palace injury boost
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Image Credits: Imago ImagesSaturday’s showdown at Selhurst Park pits the Premier League’s last two unbeaten teams against each other as Liverpool visit Crystal Palace on Saturday for a 15:00 BST kick-off.
Arne Slot’s side head into the fixture atop the table with a flawless five wins from five, holding a five-point lead over their nearest challengers.
The reigning champions have already proved their mettle by seeing off early-season tests against Arsenal, Newcastle and Everton.
Hugo Ekitike will miss Saturday’s encounter after receiving a red card for removing his shirt during his goal celebration against Southampton.
The striker had already been booked for dissent, making his second yellow card particularly avoidable.
Arne Slot has confirmed that he did not receive a fine contrary to some reports.
Teenage defender Giovanni Leoni suffered a cruel blow after sustaining a season-ending ACL injury on his debut against Southampton.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace likewise have injuries issues, chief among them being the issues for attacking duo Ismaila Sarr and Yeremy Pino.
Pino only lasted until half time this past weekend against West Ham only to pick up a knee injury, while the Senegal international has been out since the 31st of August.
However, in a boost to the home side, manager Oliver Glasner confirmed both are fit to play against the Reds:
“Ismaila Sarr and Yeremy Pino are ready to start tomorrow,” the Austrian said in his pre-match press conference.
Meanwhile, Arne Slot confirmed that Alexander Isak can get more minutes in the tank at Selhurst Park but admitted that a full 90 is still too much in his own press conference:
“Yeah, he’s able to make minutes again.
So you can maybe give one, I would call, stupid hit to bring him to 90 and then you brought him too far over the line.”
“So, I don’t think it’s smart to play him 90 yet?
But he’s further into his pre-season now and normally after two or three weeks in pre-season players go to 60, 70 minutes, and in some clubs they even bring them to 90.”
“But if you look at our pre-season, we mainly bring them to 60 to 70 minutes then.”
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