Jean-Philippe Mateta will make his first Crystal Palace appearance on Saturday since being hospitalised with a lacerated ear, with Oliver Glasner confident the striker has not been psychologically affected by the incident.
Mateta was kicked in the head by Millwall’s goalkeeper Liam Roberts in the FA Cup fifth round four weeks ago and required 25 stitches. Roberts, who was sent off, received a six-match ban.
Palace won 3-1 to set up Saturday’s quarter-final against Fulham at Craven Cottage, where they will be looking to land a third Wembley appearance in the cup in 10 seasons, and are buoyed by their top scorer’s readiness to return. The 27-year-old, who has scored 15 times in all competitions this season, will wear a protective helmet.
“He feels comfortable,” Glasner said of the helmet. “When he scores a header tomorrow then it was the right mask with the right protection. When I’ve watched JP in training he looks the same like before. He needs to get back into his rhythm; he couldn’t train for two weeks. One week he was just at home then he trained for a week individually.
“He’s been lucky that nothing was fractured, no concussion. It was just the ear. I know it was a terrible injury. Some players say that the ear looks better than before now.”
Asked whether he was worried Mateta might be affected mentally by the injury and be reluctant to go into challenges with his head, Palace’s manager said: “He did it the whole last two weeks. The doctor and the team did a great job finding the right protection. We tried two or three different ones – everything is approved by the Premier League. If I believed it’s a problem, I wouldn’t play him.”
