Crystal Palace have been handed a devastating blow ahead of their final two Premier League games, with one to come against Nottingham Forest.
The Reds won’t be coming up against Wilfried Zaha on the final day of the season, with BBC Sport ruling him out for the season.
Palace do have other talented players. Marc Guehi, Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze will all need to be watched closely by Forest.
It’s pretty clear, however, that Zaha is the danger man for the Eagles and it’s a bonus that Forest won’t have to come up against him.
Interestingly, it could be the end for Zaha at Palace. The 30-year-old is out of contract at the club and he must decide whether to sign a new deal.
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Forest could secure their Premier League status before they head to Selhurst Park but they will need to defeat Arsenal this weekend.
That does look like a long shot though and it would appear that things will go down to the final day.
The Reds have battled hard in recent weeks to get themselves back in contention to secure Premier League survival.
A run of 11 games without a victory threatened to send Forest down without a whimper but of late the team have battled hard.
Crystal Palace get devastating Zaha blow
The Eagles will be thankful that they’re safe from relegation for another season, otherwise, this would be seriously detrimental.
Zaha being absent could help Forest, however, should their fate go to a final-day showdown in South-East London.
On his day, the player is a real match-winner and he was a constant menace when Palace lost 1-0 at the City Ground in November.
Forest know that the job they have to complete is in their hands and they will hope to get a positive result against Arsenal in the first instance.
Then, they can look forward to facing Palace minus their influential talisman.