Crystal Palace without two injured mainstays could fall into the fight for salvation

Brighton got a four in the week, but gave it away at the weekend. The Seagulls beat Crystal Palace 4-1 in the M23 derby and confirmed that they are the most unbalanced team in the league. The visitors not only burnt out game by game, but their biggest mainstay got injured.

Problems could have been foreseen after the announcement of Crystal Palace’s starting line-up. The two biggest offensive mainstays – Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze – were missing. They were the ones who secured the 3-2 win over Sheffield last round. Olise scored once and assisted twice, Eze scored two goals.

This time Eze couldn’t play due to a thigh injury. And Olise wasn’t ready to start from the opening minute either. The Eagles were toothless without both wingers, which combined with a dysfunctional defense meant an open day for Brighton.

He put a stick under his own feet

To make matters worse, Eagles captain Marc Guéhi was injured in the first half. Crystal Palace went into the booths at 0-3 and didn’t look like they were going to recover. Yet coach Roy Hodgson pulled Olise off the bench, who was not 100 percent healthy. The Frenchman played ten minutes and came on injured.

“Everybody and their mothers would tell you don’t send Olise in,” wrote Crystal Palace fan David in a liked comment under an Instagram post . He was responding to the importance of the French winger.

With Olis and Eze in the lineup, the Eagles are averaging 1.5 points per round this season. And without one or both of them, they will take under a point per game. Currently, the Londoners are five points above the relegation zone and a question mark hangs over the health of both stars.

Crystal Palace fans send Hodgson away

“Obviously Roy out, but so far I haven’t seen Henderson do anything to catch in place of Johnston. It’s still one of the strangest decisions to bring Henderson in. When we bought Johnston he was stellar,” responded user Fcvpsandiego.

The opinions about sacking Hodgson are not news, the change in goal has not been addressed yet. Sam Johnstone came to Crystal Palace in the summer of 2022 as a mainstay of second-league West Bromwich and the England national team’s third goalkeeper. He hasn’t properly been a permanent number one until now.

Source: Instagram