Crystal Palace without key midfielder for Man City game as Patrick Vieira confirms injury news



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Crystal Palace will once again be without key midfielder James McArthur when they take on Manchester City on Monday.

The 34-year-old Scotsman made his long-awaited return from injury against Brentford in February but sat out the 2-0 win at Wolves last weekend after picking up another knock.

Unfortunately for Vieira, McArthur’s injury will also keep him out of the City game on Monday, with the Frenchman confirming the news at his pre-match press conference on Thursday.

McArthur was a vital part of the Eagles side that inflicted a first home league defeat of the season on City at the Etihad in October.

Wilfried Zaha and Conor Gallagher both scored the goals in Manchester as Palace came away with all three points and an impressive clean sheet against the league leaders.

Vieira also confirmed on Thursday that Nathan Ferguson remained sidelined following his latest injury setback, though there is positive news on the return of Joel Ward.

The full-back – now in his tenth year of service at the club – suffered a groin injury last month that has seen him sidelined for the last five matches.

He has since returned to parts of first-team training and, following a rest day on Friday, will be taking part in a full training session with the squad on Saturday.

From there, a final decision will be made whether he can play a part in Monday’s game, with Nathaniel Clyne able to continue his role as deputy if needed.

Regardless of the team he selects, Vieira said he knew the challenge that awaited his Palace side against Pep Guardiola’s City, but also knew what the players needed to do to try and get a result.

“The game we had at the Etihad was a good collective game and we’ll need to create this kind of performance again,” he said.

“We’ll have to be solid, work well and it’s about defending well as a team and at the same time creating those moments to create chances and score goals. We know we are capable of doing that.

“It is the way we work as a team. I think from the front players to the goalkeeper we were really tight and compact and didn’t give City a lot of space.

“This is a team that manages to score goals and create chances. We’ll have to be at our best and defend well but we have to create chances and it’s important to take them.”





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