Roy Hodgson reveals Jeffrey Schlupp’s return date

by Graeme Jackson

Tuesday Feb 06, 2018. 15:00

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has revealed that Ghanaian defender Jeffrey Schlupp is expected to return from injury in March.

The versatile Black Stars player suffered a knee injury in Palace’s FA Cup loss to Brighton & Hove Albion on January 8.

Schlupp has undergone surgery, but his recovery is expected to run well into next month.

“A lot of teams can talk about the number of players they have injured at any one time, but a lot of those injuries are muscle injuries," Hodgson told his club's official website.

“I think it’s very unusual to have as many as five players out, basically for the rest of the season.

“We already lost [Christian] Benteke for six weeks, [Wilfried] Zaha six weeks, Mamadou Sakho seven weeks, Schlupp eight to ten weeks."

"Five players out for the rest of the season – I think that’s a very unusual situation to find ourselves in.

"All of them are trauma injuries – none are due to muscle strains or pulls, they’re all cruciate ligaments, medial ligaments and fractures.”

Schlupp has made 19 Premier League appearances this season, his first full campaign on the books of the Eagles.