TEAM NEWS: Lo Celso out until Europa, Zaha available against Spurs

We’re not even 24 hours after Tottenham’s 1-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage and already attention turns towards Spurs’ next match, Sunday at home against Crystal Palace. And while there isn’t much new news in Spurs’ injury front, Palace has been given a huge boost — Wilfried Zaha is expected to be fit and available for selection.

Palace manager Roy Hodgson confirmed that Zaha could return for his first match in nearly a month.

“He has come back quicker than perhaps the medical staff thought was possible,” Hodgson said. “He trained well this week so no reason why I can’t consider him for a place in the team.”

Zaha is quite clearly Palace’s primary attacking threat, and they’ve been pretty stagnant without him. They’ve taken five points out of a possible 15 since his injury, scoring only two goals, and their last two matches have been dull, turgid scoreless draws against Fulham and Manchester United. Since Zaha’s injury they’ve managed only 0.7 xG90+xA90, which is uh not great. Having him back will be pretty important if they’re going to get a result against Spurs on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho has again reiterated that Giovani Lo Celso, the club’s only significant injury, is unlikely to return for the next week, though he did open the door to Gio getting some minutes in the first leg of the Europa League series against Dynamo Zagreb.

“For Gio, I don’t think [he will be available], I don’t think so for Sunday, but, but there is maybe an opportunity, but I don’t think so.

I will believe [it’s more likely] for Europa League on Thursday.”

Tottenham kick off against Palace this Sunday at 2:15 p.m. ET, 7:15 p.m. GMT at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.