Crystal Palace suffer fresh injury blow ahead of Newcastle United clash

Crystal Palace will be without captain Luka Milivojevic due to a hamstring issue.

The Serbian played the final five minutes of the Eagles’ 2-0 FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.

However, ahead of the visit to Newcastle United, Palace boss Patrick Vieira has ruled the 31-year-old out.

A big boost for the South London side though is the return of Conor Gallagher, who was ineligible to face his former club at Wembley.

That leaves Vieira with a decision to make in the midfield area.

Crystal Palace injury latest

“Our captain Luka (Milivojevic) will not be part of the group,” the former Arsenal man said. “He felt something in his hamstring, so won’t be part of the team. That will give us different options.

“I was really pleased to see how Cheikhou (Kouyate) did in that position (versus Chelsea). This is something I had at the back of my mind.

“We have to use the system based on the quality Chelsea have and I was pleased with how we responded.

“Nathan (Ferguson) is still injured. Outside of those two, everybody is good.”

Deserved praise for Eddie Howe

Meanwhile, ahead of facing the Magpies at St James’ Park, Vieira moved to praise Eddie Howe.

Vieira said: “I’m not surprised (how well Howe has done) because you just have to look at how well he was doing at Bournemouth. He is an experienced manager, and has a really clear idea about what he wants from the players.

“He brought the players that play the way he wants to play. For some clubs, you can’t make mistakes when choosing players and the ones you bring really help you to perform. All credit to him.”