Dan Cook has been speaking on the HLTCO podcast about his worries surrounding James McArthur’s potential hamstring injury and what it could mean for Crystal Palace.
It has been a rather successful start to life at Crystal Palace for Patrick Vieira having only lost to Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premier League, are currently unbeaten at home and this could be down to how well his new signings have gelled together and that they have not suffered from any major injury setbacks.
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That could be about to change though as this international break has seen Joachim Andersen sent home from Denmark’s camp reportedly injured and now rumours on social media are claiming that McArthur has picked up what might be a serious hamstring injury and given he’s started every league game this season, the latter’s absence would surely be felt massively.
Cook has been discussing his worries over this potential McArthur injury.
“There has been plenty of noise across social media over the last 48 hours or so that James McArthur has actually suffered a quite severe hamstring injury, supposedly it could keep him out until February.
“Obviously, as I say, we should caveat all of what I’m saying this morning with the potential that is just gossip that’s got out of hand and caught fire on social media.
“But as the story is sort of developing, it’s become clear that more and more people are actually believing that McArthur will be out for a prolonged period of time and obviously, it would be a major blow for us.”
TIF Thoughts on McArthur…
It would certainly be a massive blow if someone like McArthur was to be out even for a couple of weeks, but if the reports are true that he may be out until February, Vieira may find it difficult to replace McArthur, especially given how strong his partnership is alongside Conor Gallagher.
Palace have an excellent defensive record this season despite having only kept four clean sheets as they have the second-lowest XGA in the Premier League and that certainly has a lot to do with how well McArthur has Shepherded the back four.
The 34-year old sits inside the top three for tackles won, tackles against dribbles won and successful pressures. Despite his age, McArthur is getting about the pitch and disrupting play, which is exactly what he will be in the team to do given the attacking stars he has in front of him such as Wilfried Zaha, Odsonne Edouard, Christian Benteke and Gallagher.
In other news: ‘He has been a real game-changer’ – Dan Cook reacts to potential ‘sizeable blow’ for CPFC