Roy Hodgson has confirmed that Gary Cahill won’t be able to play for Crystal Palace against Fulham tomorrow afternoon.
As quoted by the club’s official Twitter account, the former England manager said: ‘Gary won’t be able to play tomorrow. We’re still assessing it but it’s too soon after the kick he took for him to play tomorrow.’
Hodgson is referring to Lewis Dunk’s red card offence on the ex-Chelsea and Bolton defender, which happened in the Eagles’ most recent outing against Brighton last week.
The Seagulls No.5 lunged into the 34-year-old’s ankle late on in the 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park, and while Cahill was able to see out the final few minutes, the knock appears to have damaged him.
This news will come as a real shame to the centre-back – who earns £65,000-a-week according to Spotrac – and also the Selhurst Park faithful.
The Dronfield-born defender had only just come back from an injury before lining up against Graham Potter’s men, in what was his first appearance of the campaign.
It will be incredibly frustrating for him to return to the physio room almost as soon as he left it, and it will also negatively impact Palace to lose such a colossal figure at the back.
Hodgson’s backline is already looking quite light.
Cheikhou Kouyate has been playing at centre-back this term as James Tomkins and Mamadou Sakho continue to recover from respective fitness issues.
In that case, the last thing Hodgson needs is another of his natural centre-backs to be unavailable.
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