- Crystal Palace host Shakhtar Donetsk
- Evann Guessand ruled out
- Ivorian is in final stage of recovery
Oliver Glasner has provided an update on Evann Guessand, revealing that the Ivorian winger won’t be available for Crystal Palace’s clash with Shakhtar Donetsk. The two sides meet in the second leg of their UEFA Conference League semi-final.
Guessand missed the first leg due to a knee injury, which has kept him on the sidelines since early April. There had been hopes of him facing Shakhtar tomorrow after he was pictured with the squad on Wednesday.
The Eagles host the Ukrainian giants at Selhurst Park and are one game away from a final in Leipzig. A 3-1 win in Krakow last Thursday has put them within touching distance of a trip to Germany.
Evann Guessand Update
Guessand won’t feature for Palace on Thursday and Glasner confirmed this during his pre-match press conference. He confirmed team news for the match including Will Hughes’ return:
“Will Hughes is back, Evann trained today, but just partly, so he doesn’t make the squad tomorrow.”
Borna Sosa, Eddie Nketiah and Cheick Doucoure are also unavailable for the encounter with Shakhtar. But Guessand is the biggest absence, given he’d been a starter before sustaining a knee injury in the 3-0 win over Fiorentina in the previous round.
Glasner added:
“Yes it’s nice (to see him training). The last part of the rehab is getting integrated into team training. We don’t have a lot of training so that’s why we use every training we have. Still doing with the rehab coach individually and then you are part of team training. This is what he needs now.”
Guessand has appeared 11 times since joining Palace on loan from Aston Villa in January. He’s scored two goals, provided one assist and might well have earned a permanent switch.
