Jean-Philippe Mateta will miss Crystal Palace’s Europa League clash with Lyon as he continues his recovery from injury, leaving the club without four named players for the trip to France. Dean Henderson, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ben Chilwell will also stay behind.
Pierre Sage put the situation plainly before the journey, saying: “JP Mateta will not be here tomorrow,” then adding: “Dean Henderson too, Takehiro Tomiyasu too. Ben Chilwell too.” For Palace, that means the list of absentees is already set before they get to Lyon, and the problem is bigger than one injury or one bad week.
The timing matters because this is the Europa League trip to Lyon, where Palace need to manage what is available rather than what might have been available. Mateta’s absence is especially significant because he is continuing his recovery from injury, while the other three are also ruled out for the same trip.
There is another layer to the absence list. Sage also said: “All the players out of the list have not travelled,” which means anyone not registered for Palace’s Europa League squad has remained at home as well. That leaves the club dealing with both injuries and the limits of the squad list at the same time, tightening the options for a European night away from home.
For Palace, the next step is simple but unforgiving: they face Lyon without Mateta, Henderson, Tomiyasu or Chilwell, and without any players left at home because they were outside the Europa League squad list. The trip is already reduced before the match has even begun.
