Crystal Palace without key man against Newcastle United after fresh injury blow this week

Crystal Palace are set to be without Joachim Andersen for this evening’s Premier League clash against Newcastle United (kick-off 5:30pm).

The 26-year-old picked up a calf injury during last weekend’s 1-0 defeat at Chelsea and sat out of the midweek draw with Manchester United at Selhurst Park.

And according to The Athletic, Anderson will remain absent for the visit of Newcastle but could return for the first game of next month.

Palace boss Patrick Vieira turned to £10million summer signing Chris Richards in Anderson’s place, where he was praised for his display against the Red Devils.

The USA international has endured a frustrating start to life in South London with an early-season injury restricting him to just five league appearances so far.

“He was really good. I think defensively he was really strong,” said Vieira after the 1-1 draw with Man United.

“Of course, you can see that he needs to play more games to build his confidence, but when he needed to defend, he did it really well.

“We bought Chris knowing his strength and quality. He’s been really unlucky with a couple of injuries which didn’t allow him to train or play games.

“Now he’s fully fit, we know he’s a good defender, and he can play when we want to build from the back, so we just need to build his confidence now – but the quality is there.’

Vieira could also call upon James Tomkins to partner Marc Guehi in central defender but is likely to stick with Richards.