Injured Palace winger Zaha a doubt for FA Cup final
REUTERS - Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha will miss Saturday's Premier League clash against Stoke City with a muscular strain and is racing against time to be fit for the FA Cup final against Manchester United, manager Alan Pardew has said.
Palace are 16th in the Premier League table on 39 points and are looking to avoid a third consecutive league defeat when Stoke visit, while a win will ensure Pardew's team are mathematically safe from relegation with a game to spare.
Pardew said forward Yannick Bolasie and midfielder Mile Jedinak were also likely to miss the Stoke game.
"Wilf still has a problem that will still keep him out for this weekend," the manager told reporters.
"Hopefully he'll be OK for the final. Wilf's a naturally fit guy. He actually did the injury before the semi-final. We scanned him on the Monday afterwards and saw there's a slight tear there.
"We can't take a risk with him. There's no way he can play this weekend, he could possibly play at (final league fixture) Southampton. He'll be vulnerable if he plays at Southampton and he'll be vulnerable if he plays in the final.
"The problem's high up in his attachment to his hamstring, so it's not his hamstring but it's high up on the tendon there."
Pardew also revealed that South Korean midfielder Lee Chung-yong would be fined by the club for criticising him in a recent interview.
Lee had said Pardew "too hot tempered in matches" and claimed in an interview with Sports Seoul that his manager "forgets how many substitutions he has left".
"He's made an error," Pardew said. "He said it got lost in translation, that can happen and I've had it before. But some of it isn't lost in translation, though, and he'll get a fine for that."
(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)