Wilfried Zaha: Crystal Palace star’s injury ‘far worse than expected’ amid ‘video footage’ claim – expert
Wilfried Zaha could spend “three or four weeks” on the sidelines at Crystal Palace after suffering a thigh injury against Newcastle United.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.
During the goalless draw with Newcastle last Saturday (21 January), Zaha pulled up and went to ground holding his right thigh.
The 30-year-old tried to continue but eventually was brought off by Patrick Vieira for Jean-Philippe Mateta just after the hour mark.
Zaha has only missed one game for Palace this season – the 4-2 loss to Man City – and was on a run of playing every minute for the last 10 Premier League games.
But Dinnery insists Crystal Palace could be without Zaha for up to a month if his hamstring or tendon issue is as bad as it looked.
“I understand that Wilfried Zaha went for a scan on Tuesday over that hamstring injury that he suffered against Newcastle,” Dinnery told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“From the mechanism of running and pulling up, it was a non-contact injury and it looked to be pretty high up on his thigh towards the glute.
“Tendon injuries tend to be worse than a strain in the belly of the muscle and if that’s what Zaha has suffered then it could be far worse than expected.
“It’s not looking like a small hamstring setback and I’d imagine Zaha is set for three or four weeks out on the sidelines.
“There are positives in him coming back on and trying to continue, and we all know that Zaha is a very robust player, but it did look like a very painful and serious injury.
“It’s tough to draw conclusions, but from video footage it looks as though Zaha could be out for up to a month.“
In other news, Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira told to ‘get over it’ after £190m Chelsea development