Eberechi Eze looks set to miss England’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy after the Crystal Palace midfielder sustained a hamstring injury that could keep him out for six weeks.
Eze, who made his senior debut against Malta in June and won his second cap as a substitute against Scotland last month, was replaced two minutes before full-time in Palace’s win over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday. The 25-year-old had previously played every minute of Palace’s Premier League matches this season.
Palace are understood to be concerned about the extent of the problem given their growing injury list and fear the influential playmaker could be out for as long as six weeks. That would rule Eze out of their meeting with Nottingham Forest on Saturday, two England matches – the qualifier against Italy two weeks on Tuesday and the friendly against Australia four days earlier – and Premier League fixtures against Newcastle, Tottenham and Burnley after the international break.
Palace arewithout Michael Olise for an extended period after the 21-year-old – who signed a new four-year contract last month after turning down a move to Chelsea – sustained a new injury to the same hamstring he injured playing for France’s Under-21s in the summer. The top scorer, Odsonne Édouard, missed the win over United with what manager Roy Hodgson described as a “slight muscle injury” to his hamstring, and Jefferson Lerma is sidelined by a hamstring injury sustained with Colombia.
Hodgson will hope Édouard can return o face Forest at Selhurst Park on Saturday but Dean Henderson looks set for a long spell on the sidelines after being forced off after just 19 minutes of his debut in the Carabao Cup defeat by his former club at Old Trafford last Tuesday.
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“The initial scan wasn’t very positive, I’m sorry to say,” said the Palace manager. “He has another scan in a week’s time and maybe we’ll be lucky in that it will show somewhat less damage than the first one, but it didn’t look like good news.”
