Wilfried Zaha knee injury fears eased with protective brace a precaution for Crystal Palace star

Zaha departed Selhurst Park in a protective brace
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Giuseppe Muro14 August 2017

Crystal Palace today eased fears Wilfried Zaha has suffered a knee injury. Zaha raised concerns when he posted a picture with his right knee in a brace after Palace lost 3-0 to Huddersfield.

But Palace say the 24-year-old winger was wearing the protective brace for recovery and it is thought it was more a precautionary move than anything for supporters to worry about.

Zaha was the subject of some rough treatment by Huddersfield players and he was unhappy that a number of strong tackles went unpunished by referee Jon Moss.

He posted a picture on Instagram of his knee in a brace — with the captain “God shall protect me” — on Saturday evening before later deleting the post.

​Zaha was unable to drive home after the match and was seen signing autographs for fans from the passenger seat of his car as he left Selhurst Park.

Palace have an open training session at the ground ahead of their game against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday.

The Frank de Boer era at Palace got off to a nightmare start against promoted Huddersfield.

Palace are still adjusting to their new style of play under De Boer and it is clearly going to take the them time to adapt to the philosophy being introduced by the Dutchman.

The players were uncomfortable in the new 3-4-3 formation, which is perhaps no surprise given De Boer is revolutionising their style of football.

Striker Christian Benteke said: “It is a new formation but it is not an excuse. We have to get used to it as soon as possible and we have to deal with it. We know what to do and we have to do what the manager wants.

“We played like that and we trained like that in pre-season. We have to get used to it. It is a bad start but there are 37 games to go.”

De Boer said the defeat was down to the “wrong choices” his players made during a 15-minute spell in the first half and that it was a “very expensive lesson” for his side.

Palace struggled coming out of defence and De Boer said they have to learn when to play out form the back. He said: “You have to recognise when you have to play it on the ground and when you do not.”

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