Crystal Palace were booed off the pitch after their drab defeat at home to Bournemouth last night, and to make things worse they lost defender Tyrick Mitchell to injury in the first half.
Palace were already short of options at left-back, with no real backup to Mitchell in the squad, and losing him could be a huge blow in what has been a nightmare few weeks.
Roy Hodgson’s side are in dreadful form, are already missing key players in Eberechi Eze and Cheick Doucoure, and are set to face Manchester City and Liverpool in the coming weeks.
Nathaniel Clyne replaced Mitchell in the first half, with the right-back slotting in on the left, whilst Joel Ward delivered yet another disappointing display on the other side.
Roy Hodgson gives Tyrick Mitchell update
Speaking to reporters after the game, Hodgson revealed that Mitchell was withdrawn with a muscle strain.
“Roy Hodgson confirms Tyrick Mitchell has a muscle strain, and admits “my relationship with muscle trains at Crystal Palace is not a good one.” Hopefully nothing too serious but club will assess,” reporter Dom Smith posted on X.
Mitchell has started in every single Premier League game this season, and has played for the entire 90 minutes in the majority of his appearances.
Given his lack of cover and rotation, a muscle injury for Mitchell may have been inevitable, and the club’s injury crisis has now worsened.
How can Crystal Palace replace Tyrick Mitchell?
Mitchell was in good form before his injury, winning the club’s player of the month award for November, and there are few good alternatives.
One option could be to move Jeffrey Schlupp to left-back. Schlupp has played in that position a lot over the course of his career, despite moving to a midfield role, and given that he has been disappointing in the middle, a positional change could even help him find his form.
Clyne came on for Mitchell in what was a very conservative decision from Hodgson, and the veteran struggled away from his natural position. Ideally, a different solution would be found.
Chris Richards has been playing out of positon as a central midfielder. Whilst he put in a strong performance against West Ham, he was less convincing against Bournemouth, and he could now move to the back four if Hodgson is willing to give a different player a chance in midfield.
