'They Need Him': BBC Pundit Says Crystal Palace Must Keep Wilfried Zaha Fit to Avoid Relegation

Former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson has said that Crystal Palace must keep talisman Wilfried Zaha fit, if they are to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

The Palace winger made his first appearance in over a month as a half time substitute the Eagles suffered a 2-1 defeat to defending Premier League Champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.

Speaking about Palace's survival hopes on the BBC programme Football Focus this weekend, the Croydon Advertiser quotes Lawrenson as saying:  "It is doubly hard [for Palace].

"The manager [Roy Hodgson] has got the experience." adding that: "With Palace, they have already been down there, so they know what it is like."

Comparing The Eagles with their relegation rivals, Lawrenson went onto say: "West Ham are being drawn back into it, but it is such a finite thing. I think they [Palace] will be ok, but stating the bleeding obvious, they need [Wilfried] Zaha back in."

The defeat to Chelsea was only the sixth Palace have suffered in Zaha's 21 league appearances this season, while they have yet to pick up a single league point in a game not featuring the Ivory Coast winger this season.