Huge blow: CPFC suffer big injury concern ahead of Wembley, Vieira will be worried - opinion

Patrick Vieira will lead his Crystal Palace team out in their first FA Cup semi-final since 2016 at Wembley this weekend in a fantastic achievement for the Eagles. However, there has been a late injury concern following the defeat to Leicester City on Sunday.

According to The Telegraph, Crystal Palace are anxiously awaiting clarity on a potential injury problem following Tyrick Mitchell’s early departure from the pitch in the 37th minute of their Premier League clash at the King Power Stadium yesterday.

The Palace boss gave a brief update on the left-back’s condition in his post-match interview simply saying: “He felt something on his calf so we did not want to take any risk.

“We have to wait to see how bad it is.”

Vieira will surely be worried not to have Mitchell in the team against Chelsea this weekend, after already losing Conor Gallagher following his parent’s club’s rejection of Palace’s request to let their loan player take part in the meeting.

The 22-year-old star has been incredibly influential this season for the Eagles, playing every single league game so far averaging at 88 minutes per match. He’s won the majority of his duels combined (61%), creating two big chances, delivering two assists whilst making three tackles, 1.2 interceptions and two clearances per outing on average, according to SofaScore.

If the defender isn’t available for the important clash, Vieira will have a huge headache in setting up his team and could potentially change formation in the defensive line, or he could simply deploy Joel Ward who is naturally a right-back but replaced Mitchell in the left-back position following his injury concern against the Foxes.

The 32-year-old has made 24 appearances in the Premier League this season, but