When West Ham visit Selhurst Park on Boxing day, Roy Hodgson will be hoping that the build-up of festive fixtures does not hurt his squad any more than it already has. Defensively the Eagles are running on empty with a host of first-team starters missing the clash with the Hammers. Scott Dann, Joel Ward, Gary Cahill, Patrick van Aanholt and Jairo Riedewald are all on the treatment table over Christmas and set to miss out.
Fortunately for Hodgson, he will have Mamadou Sakho available to him after serving a suspension that caused the Frenchman to miss the 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United at the weekend. That result meant that the Magpies moved above Crystal Palace in the Premier League table and midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate was forced to deputise in defence as the ex-England manager was left with just one central defender, James Tomkins.
Crystal Palace have been incredibly fortunate to have had one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League this season, Vicente Guita has kept six clean sheets, leaving him one short of the lead. But without a proper backline in front of him, he was unable to add to his tally, as Newcastle United scored a last gasp winner. Any more defensive injuries or suspensions could yet see Crystal Palace slide further down the table after a strong start to the campaign.
Even Sakho’s return will not be music to Hodgson’s ears though since Garry Cahill’s arrival in the summer the ex-Liverpool defender has not featured as regularly for the Eagles as in previous campaigns. Sakho has averaged half the number of tackles per game as his English counterpart, 0.2, while also making just over half the number of clearances, 2.6 to Cahill’s 5.1 per 90 minutes.
Unless Hodgson feels he desperately needs Kouyate in midfield, he could deputise at the back again. His statistics for tackling, are over nine times that of the French defender, while he also has the same number of average interceptions per match, 1.2.
Hodgson is left with not much of a decision to make with regards to his defence, but he will be hoping the packed fixture list doesn’t further his injury problems at the back to disrupt a solid start to the season.
