Ahead of Saturday’s trip to Leicester City, Crystal Palace could be boosted by the fitness of Joel Ward.
The 25-year-old full-back has been suffering from a knee injury since the end of August, which put a dampener on Ward’s brilliant start to the 2015/16 season. He scored goals against Arsenal and Chelsea during the Eagles’ impressive start, and will be a massive boost for Alan Pardew when he comes back into the side in place of Martin Kelly.
“Wardy did some the training with us on Tuesday and is full training on Thursday,” assistant boss Keith Millen told the Croydon Advertiser.
“I think, medically, he would be OK (to play on Saturday), it’s whether we feel he’s done enough training work really.”
However, with Ward set for a return, striker Connor Wickham remains doubtful for the game at the King Power Stadium on the weekend.
After signing from Sunderland in the summer, Wickham’s Palace career has been disturbed by a calf injury since August’s impressive win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Keith Millen told the Advertiser, “Connor is over the injury – I believe the actual calf is healed but we’ve been told we need to really build his training up.
“We need to get some proper work into him really. He hasn’t returned to full training yet, and is unlikely to play at Leicester.
“We have Fraizer Campbell and Patrick Bamford fit, so there are two options there and we’re not too bad off.”
Pardew will be hoping to get Wickham back into the thick of things as soon as possible to add some firepower to the Eagles’ frontline. Although, Campbell and Bamford are capable enough to put a shift in against Leicester on Saturday.
