Wilfried Zaha given time to prove fitness

By March 30, 2018



5/5 - (1 vote)

Crystal-Palace-Wilfried-Zaha-min

Roy Hodgson admits he’ll wait as long as possible in order to allow Wilfried Zaha to prove his fitness for Saturday’s visit of Liverpool to Selhurst Park.

 
The Eagles boss says there are ‘no deadlines’ for Zaha and if the winger is ready in time he will play.

Zaha remains a significant doubt having not trained during the international break in an attempt to rest his knee following his recent return from injured ligaments.

Palace head into their final seven games of the season in 16th place, just two points above the relegation zone.

They welcome Liverpool in the early kick-off knowing a defeat would leave them in a perilous position as West Ham and Southampton, the teams directly behind them, meet later in the day and would both have two games in hand by that point.

Palace won last time out at Huddersfield with Zaha in their ranks, though they’d lost four in a row previously without him.

On that basis, Hodgson knows the importance of allowing him time to prove he is ready to face Jurgen Klopp’s outfit.

“You don’t give your top players deadlines,” Hodgson said.

“It’s very simple. I want him to play the seven (remaining league) games, I really do, there’s no question of that.”

The former Reds and England manager says Zaha will only be given the green light to play if the medical staff are satisfied he is ready, while he doesn’t want to risk aggravating the problem further.

“It will just be a question of how he responds and having that conversation,” he added.

“Do I and the medical staff believe he’s fit enough to play and his knee is not going to be a problem?

“Then there’s a further question. This is one of seven games, and what are the risks for the following six games if you play this one? Should the player have more treatment, bearing in mind if he injured himself, he could miss the remaining six?”

Palace are 6.00 to beat Liverpool, the Reds are 1.53 to take three points from Selhurst Park, with the draw 4.50.