Allardyce fears long-term lay-off Crystal Palace star

 

Sam Allardyce fears Mamadou Sakho may have played his last game for the club after suffering a serious knee injury in Crystal Palace’s 1-0 defeat to Tottenham on Wednesday night.

 

Sakho was stretchered off just before the hour mark in Palace’s defeat to Tottenham in midweek after landing awkwardly on his knee in the aftermarth of an aerial duel with Tottenham striker Harry Kane.

 

The 27-year-old has been immense for Palace since joining on loan from Liverpool in January and his introduction to the team coincided with their incredible resurgence, but Allardyce isn’t expecting to have the Frenchman available again this season.

 

“It’s a ligament injury, which ligament we don’t know,” The Daily Mail quote Allardyce as saying after the match. “We hope it’s not the cruciate. It could be medial or lateral, but certainly a hyperextension of the knee. We will see after a scan.

 

“We don’t know if any of our three injured centre-halves will get fit again.”

 

Allardyce fears long-term lay-off Crystal Palace star

 

Palace had hoped to retain Sakho’s services beyond the end of the season but their failure to include a clause in the loan deal that would give them the right to make the deal permanent looks to have cost them with other clubs circling.

 

Allardyce is targeting one more win before being able to secure Palace’s top flight status but that has now been complicated by the loss of Sakho. In 2017, Palace have won 62.5% of their Premier League matches with Sakho in the starting XI compared to just 25% when he hasn’t been able to start.

 

For more stats on Mamadou Sakho, click here to visit his WhoScored player page