Roy Hodgson feels Wilfried Zaha is unlikely to play again for Crystal Palace this season because of injury, but hopes he will opt to stay on at the club.
The 30-year-old suffered a hamstring problem during last week’s win over Bournemouth and is expected to miss both the trip to Fulham and the final match of the campaign against Nottingham Forest at Selhurst Park.
The Ivory Coast international is out of contract in the summer, but Palace are keen for their talisman forward to agree a new deal, reported to be worth around £200,000 a week.
“The injury seems to be more serious than we would like it to be, so I fear he is not likely to play again this season – but we can only hope,” said Hodgson, whose own future at Selhurst Park remains uncertain past the end of his current interim spell.
“There are so many different grades (of injury), it is a proper strain and if it doesn’t clear up within two weeks, will take longer than that, but it won’t put his long-term future at risk at all.”
Zaha came through the Palace youth ranks and is in his second spell at the club after returning from a move to Manchester United in 2014.
The likes of Arsenal and Marseille are said to be monitoring the situation, but Hodgson hopes Palace will be able to keep him in south London.
“The club has had conversations with him (over a new contract) and those conversations will continue,” Hodgson said.
“I have no idea what the outcome will be, or how advanced they are in one direction or the other.
“All I can hope for as a Palace fan is you will be able to see him playing for Crystal Palace after this season, but I really couldn’t give you an insight or update.”
Hodgson told a press conference: “It is a good club, we have a good team which is getting stronger.
“The potential is big and they can hope next season to do better than we have been able to do this season, so all of those are very good reasons for wanting to stay.
“He has already left a big legacy, his performances over the years, coming through the ranks.
“It is more of a question of how he sees his future and where he like that future to be.”
Hodgson returned for a second spell at Selhurst Park in March following the departure of Patrick Vieira and has overseen five wins to help secure their Premier League status again.
The 75-year-old former England boss remains open to the next chapter of his lengthy coaching career.
“The future will take care of itself and I am happy to let it do so,” he said.
Midfielder Jeffrey Schlupp will not be involved at Fulham as he deals with a personal matter.
Hodgson is looking forward to returning to another of his former clubs, having helped take Fulham to the 2010 Europa League final before leaving to join Liverpool.
“I have been back (to Craven Cottage) a couple of times and have received some sort of warm welcome,” he said.
“It has always been a pleasure to attend a game there and a lot of people that I have worked with are still there.”
Hodgson added: “I have a lot of respect for (Fulham boss) Marco Silva and the way he has worked this year to produce such a good team.
“We will have to be at our best if we are going to achieve what we want with a result from the game.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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