Alan Pardew has said he’s unaware of any contract talks between Crystal Palace and Dwight Gayle, during his pre-match press conference.
The striker has impressed recently, scoring a hat-trick against Charlton in the Capital One Cup, and also looking lively when making an appearance in Palace’s 1-0 win over Watford last weekend.
Former Eagles boss Tony Pulis returns to Selhurst this weekend, and Alan Pardew indicated Gayle would again play some part in the game.
When questioned about a possible new deal for Gayle, however, Palace’s boss was none the wiser.
It’s not something I’m aware of. We obviously have to keep an eye on players’ contracts as they run down, but I think we are pretty comfortable where we are.
Pardew also then went on to discuss his pleasure at Gayle’s recent efforts.
I was very impressed with him [Gayle] last Sunday. If he had scored two goals he would have been man of the match, and he could have. That is what he gives us and he’s worked his way into the team. He will play on Saturday and hopefully he’ll score.
It’s a remarkable turn of fortunes for Gayle, who looked out in the cold over the summer. Both Norwich City and Bristol City showed genuine interest in signing the Englishman, but neither club managed to agree a deal.
Pardew reported no new injury problems ahead of the game with West Brom.
Messrs Wickham, Delaney, Ward and Jedinak are all due to return after the international fixtures.
