Crystal Palace boss sends 'crazy' Leeds United warning to squad as big injury boost confirmed
Leeds United thumped Crystal Palace 4-1 on their last trip to Elland Road.
Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage expects to face a ‘really good team’ in a ‘crazy’ atmosphere at Leeds United on Sunday.
Leeds welcome Palace to Elland Road on Sunday looking to build on their excellent start to the campaign. The Whites are unbeaten in the Premier League and bullied Newcastle United to win 4-1 in front of a raucous home crowd on Monday night.
The sight of Newcastle’s dejected players will have been familiar for a number of the Palace squad. Under former boss Oliver Glasner last season, they too were physically dominated to lose 4-1 under the Elland Road floodlights.
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Palace lost three of their first four Premier League games and while a 4-0 Europa League win over Lech Poznan should improve confidence, it gives them just two full days to recover. For Sage, that recovery is crucial ahead of what he expects to be a tough challenge.
“It’s always good to win in cups, but the Premier League is our daily job, and we are late in this one because I think we deserved better at Everton and better maybe against Ipswich,” Sage said. “We have a lot of things to manage better in our way of playing.
“Now we need points, and I know that Leeds are really a good team. I saw them at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, and I saw the game against Newcastle too, and they are really, really good. We have to recover, to be fit and in shape to play against them - and why not do what we didn't do against Ipswich?
“We have another context in a special atmosphere, because with the stadium in Leeds and these fans it’s really crazy, and we have to confirm what we did well this evening [Thursday]. We have to do better than we did against Ipswich. We have a lot of challenges, but first of all we need to recover, and we need to prepare our game in two days only.”
Crystal Palace fitness boost for Leeds United trip
Palace’s underwhelming start to the domestic season has not been helped by injury issues. Sage had been unable to call on star winger Ismaila Sarr until the 73rd minute of Thursday’s win, while Eddie Nketiah had also been missing in recent weeks.
Both are now fit to feature with Sarr potentially looking for his first start of the season. But fellow first-team regulars Dean Henderson and Jean-Philippe Mateta are both expected to be out until after the international break.
Asked about Sarr’s availability, Sage said: “To start: maybe. To play 90 minutes: I don't think so.”
On Henderson and Mateta, he added: “I maybe can give you the best answer in two weeks, but I know you want quick answers. The most important thing is to take care of them and to give them the chance to come back as quick as we can.”