Thursday 26 April 2018 17:13, UK
Striker Connor Wickham has returned to Crystal Palace training following a 17-month injury absence.
The 25-year-old has endured a gruelling rehabilitation process after rupturing his cruciate against Swansea City in November 2016.
Wickham has been forced to watch on from afar ever since, although he is now back in training with the senior squad.
The forward's comeback was put on hold earlier in the season when he made an appearance for the Eagles' U23 side, only to sustain a muscle injury and face further time on the sidelines.
Wickham is now in contention to make manager Roy Hodgson's squad for the upcoming fixture with Leicester City, and could feature for Palace before the conclusion of their Premier League campaign.
He scored three goals in 10 appearances for Palace in 2016 during his second season with the club, following his arrival from Sunderland.
Hodgson is happy with the general fitness of his squad at this late stage of the campaign, and spoke of Wickham's return during his pre-match press conference on Thursday.
"Connor Wickham trained which is really good news, particularly for Connor, who has been out for such a long time," said Hodgson.
"We don't really have any injuries amazingly enough after all the injury woes we have been put through this season.
"It is quite amazing that today the only three players not training were Jason Puncheon, Bakary Sako and Scott Dann, all of whom suffered very serious injuries and we knew they wouldn't be taking part again."
Palace currently sit in 14th place in the table, six points above the relegation zone.
