Roy Hodgson Confirms Return of Key Midfielders in Huge Crystal Palace Injury Boost

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has confirmed that key midfielders Yohan Cabaye and Ruben Loftus-Cheek will both be in the Eagles squad for the crucial Premier League clash against Huddersfield on Saturday after recovering from injuries and returning to training.

Wilfried Zaha also stands to be more involved after making his comeback from a brief spell on the sidelines when he was brought on as a half-time substitute against Chelsea last week.

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Cabaye, now a relative veteran after turning 32 years of age in January, was forced to miss the last three games. Loftus-Cheek, meanwhile, has been out of action since the end of December.

But Hodgson has reservations about whether all three will be able to start against Huddersfield.

"It's great to have them back but quite a few of them haven't played football for quite a long period of time and I can't necessarily expect that they are going to go back on the field without any match experience and reproduce the performances they did in the good spell that we have had," he is quoted as saying by CPFC.co.uk.

With 18th place Palace able to close the gap on 15th place Huddersfield to just a single point if they can win in Yorkshire but fall seven points behind if they lose, this game is the perfect example of a 'six pointer'. Yet Hodgson is unwilling to put any extra pressure on it.

"Every game you are going to play between now and the end of the season is a massive game, it is not helpful to build games up as win at all costs but we all know, including Huddersfield, the importance of getting three points from the game and the disappointment you will feel if you get no points from the game," the 70-year-old commented.

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"For me as a coach my thinking about the match is that we have to be well prepared to play a Huddersfield team who are very good and difficult to beat."

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