Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has confirmed Jeffrey Schlupp is out of their Premier League encounter with Tottenham Hotspur owing to an injury picked up on international duty with Ghana.
It will be their first time without the Germany-born this season, the midfielder having featured in all three 2021-22 league games thus far.
Schlupp was out on national duty with Ghana last week as they registered a 1-0 home win over Ethiopia in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
His game, however, ended in an unfortunate manner as he was substituted early in the match for a suspected hamstring injury.
In a pre-match press conference on Friday, Vieira revealed the Ghanaian was “feeling his hamstring” while with the Black Stars and “won’t be involved in the game tomorrow. Everybody else came back fit,” Palace’s official website reported.
It is unclear how long Schlupp will be on the sidelines, but should his injury persist for long, he could miss further matches against Liverpool and Brighton and Hove Albion this month.
That will be a big blow to the side who are still chasing their first win of the campaign.
Last season, the 28-year-old, who has featured in Palace’s three league games so far, made 27 appearances, starting in 15 of the matches.
He was on target as the Eagles beat Sheffield United 2-0 and drew 1-1 with Tottenham.
In his sixth season at the club following a 2017 move from Leicester City, the midfielder is looking to become a big player for Palace under new manager Vieira.
The trip to Ghana marked Schlupp’s return to international duty after some time away. Ghana were billed to face South Africa away three days after the Ethiopia fixture but coronavirus-induced club restrictions meant he was going to miss the trip to Johannesburg anyway.
He was one of seven players missing from the Black Stars line-up in what ended in a 1-0 defeat to Bafana.
The former Manchester United trialist, who made his Ghana debut in 2011, is yet to feature in a major tournament for the country of his parents.