Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has confirmed star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta will miss tomorrow’s game against the Blues at Selhurst Park.
Twelve-goal top scorer Mateta, 27, required 25 stitches to his ear after a horror challenge by Millwall keeper Liam Roberts during last weekend’s 3-1 FA Cup victory over the Lions. The Championship side’s keeper was dismissed following a VAR review.
"Mateta is doing well,” Glasner said at his pre-match press conference. "He is at home and his recovery is going well. He had no fractures or concussion. Healing from the huge wound is going as we expected.
"He will go to Marbella with us next week and be just training individually. If everything goes how we wish, he will be available versus Fulham [after the March international break].
"We lost JP in this game – we can’t play him tomorrow – but it’s not too bad.”
Quizzed on his players’ thoughts regarding the challenge, Roberts catching Mateta with a boot to the head as he sought to clear a ball played down the middle, the Austrian said: "To be honest, it wasn’t a big topic here in the training ground.
"The players had two days off [after the Millwall game] and, of course, everybody was in touch with JP and messaging him and I think everybody could see how he is.
"The evening after the Millwall game, it was announced all’s fine with him and everybody knows he is doing well, and he will be back soon. We started on Tuesday focusing on Ipswich.
"JP’s mother came over from France and she took care of him, so he’s in the best hands! He has great support at home. He will go with us to Marbella and will be in good hands again and he will start training with us.”
Following Saturday’s match, the Eagles won’t have a game for three weeks: "It's for several weeks [before a competitive game], now that we can’t play Newcastle.
"Then we can’t train for 10 days because many players go to their international games.
"We have two games [this month], Ipswich and then Fulham in the FA Cup, and I told the players I felt it a little bit after this three-game week [against Fulham, Aston Villa and Millwall]: three wins and with all the emotions of the Millwall game, with the injury, and then two days off it felt like a little bit [taking a breath] for everyone, me as well.
"Now it’s important for us to find the focus. We have Ipswich tomorrow and we need to perform at our best to beat them, and the players showed this week in training they have a lot of confidence to beat them.”
Palace will also be without midfielder Will Hughes, who is banned having amassed 10 bookings, while centre-half Chadi Riad and midfielder Cheick Doucoure remain long-term absentees.