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Crystal Palace: Dan Cook hints at worrying previous Wilfried Zaha injury
Podcaster Dan Cook believes that Crystal Palace ace Wilfried Zaha was already carrying an injury prior to his newfound hamstring problem.
The Lowdown: A huge blow for Patrick Vieira
When Zaha hobbled off two weeks ago, Patrick Vieira’s heart will have surely sunk as his talisman and top scorer this season looked set for some time on the sidelines.
His worst fears appear to have come true, with Zaha reportedly now set for a huge stint away from the first team and spend around six weeks in the injury room, which is a major blow to Palace’s season.
Zaha has been Palace’s top scorer for each of the last two seasons and looked on course to repeat that feat this time around with six goals already to his name – but it’s not without his body going through a lot of pain, it would seem.
The Latest: Zaha potentially injured for a while
Cook has insisted on the HLTCO podcast that this hamstring injury was just the tip of the iceberg for Zaha and what his body has been going through in recent times.
He said: “Of course, he was taken off in the closing stages of our game against Newcastle the other day with what looked like a pretty severe hamstring pull.
“I don’t think he’s necessarily torn it, but as far as I was aware, Wilf has been carrying a bit of a knock on his knee for a little while and I think maybe it’s just the wear and tear on his body at 30 years old now has weighed too heavily and he will have to have a period out of the first team.”
The Verdict: Palace must learn to live without Zaha
While it’s far from ideal for Palace to have lost their best player for a prolonged period of time, it could well benefit them in the long term as they will have to get used to playing and winning without Zaha.
This is because Zaha has turned down any proposals of a new contract at Selhurst Park and is poised to leave in the summer as a free agent to try one more time to take his career up a level before he misses his chance.
If Palace can perform and pick up some positive results without Zaha, it could give Vieira a lot of confidence for next season when a lot of the pressure will be put onto players such as Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze to be the difference for the Eagles if Zaha leaves, as he’s been ‘outstanding‘ for Palace in big games, as Ally McCoist pointed out when they beat Wolves.
