Crystal Palace fans can breathe a huge sigh of relief having seen Wayne Hennessey in training yesterday for Sunday's Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur, as the rumours had been circulating that the Eagles only fit first-team goalkeeper had picked up a freak injury, and it would leave Roy Hodgson searching the depths of his Under 23s squad to try and find a man to go between the sticks for their huge weekend match.
Julian Speroni is currently on the sidelines with a significant knee injury, which will keep him out of action beyond the international break, and it left Welsh international Hennessey as the only recognised first-team stopper at Hodgson's disposal, so news earlier in the week that he had picked up a knock left Palace fans in meltdown of the thought of trying to stopping the likes of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli with an inexperienced goalkeeper, but pictures from the Crystal Palace media department showed Hennessey in training, and that points to the fact that he should be fit for Sunday's midday kick-off.
20-year-old Dion Henry was named on the bench in Palace's 3-1 defeat to Everton a fortnight ago, and he will now play as understudy for Hennessey, as Speroni looks to get back to full fitness, but with only one appearance for Peterborough United to his name, and loan spells at Soham Town Rangers and Boston United in Non-League football just highlighting his lack of experience then Hodgson will be crossing his fingers that Hennessey can stay injury-free in the coming weeks, and he can be the man to try and enhance Palace's hopes of avoiding the drop.
One win in five games has seen the Eagles drift back into the relegation dogfight, which sees five points split 10th and 18th place, with Palace currently sitting at 15th spot in the Premier League, and Hodgson already has to deal with a host of key players missing through injury, as Bakary Sako is out for the rest of the season, and star man Wilfried Zaha faces a spell of around a month on the sidelines, having picked up a knee injury against Newcastle United.
So, with his squad already down to the bare bones, Hodgson will be hoping his players can come through this testing time, but having lost their last three clashes with Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 the former England boss will be hoping the vociferous Selhurst Park crowd can help turn those recent defeats around, and duly grab a positive victory against a Spurs side that are only four points behind Manchester United in second place, and warm up for their Champions League last-16 second leg tie with Juventus with a huge win against Palace.
With only one defeat in their last ten home league games, that coming against Arsenal 3-2 in late December, Palace will be hoping to extend their fine form at Selhurst Park, which has seen them beat Chelsea (2-1) and hold Manchester City (0-0), and with Hennessey's positive injury news sure to give them a significant boost, then they will fancy landing a positive result against a Spurs side that have lost four of their last nine Premier League matches.
