Sage hopeful of triple Crystal Palace boost for Spurs

Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage has confirmed Jean-Philippe Mateta is ready to return to the starting line-up for Saturday’s trip to Tottenham.

The striker was left out of Wednesday’s win over Fulham as Palace carefully managed his workload following his return from injury, but Sage says he is now ready to start again.

“He’s ready to play, and we managed him yesterday, because he played two 60-minutes in seven days, and normally he has to play only two 30-minutes,” Sage said.

“That’s why we left him out of the team yesterday, to be able to play and be ready to start against Tottenham.”

Jørgen Strand Larsen could return too after progressing from individual work.

“We will see today, he will train with the group today,” Sage said.

“He’s trained individually for the moment, but today he will be ready to be with us.”

Quinten Timber is also closing in on a comeback and could be involved at the weekend.

“Tomorrow for him [he will return] and [he will] maybe have some minutes with the team on Saturday,” Sage said.

There was less positive news on Ismaïla Sarr, who remains unavailable.

“For the moment, he’s not able to play,” Sage said.