London Football News

Youngster Kaikai set for Palace start

Sullay Kaikai is set to be given his full Crystal Palace debut in Tuesday night’s FA Cup replay with Bolton.

The 21-year-old winger came off the bench for the final 10 minutes of the 0-0 draw at the Macron Stadium.

However, boss Sam Allardyce hinted, without explicitly naming him, that Kaikai – who was recalled from a loan spell at Brentford earlier this month – would start the replay.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Allardyce said: “We’ll make changes. There’ll be only one player that hasn’t played very regularly in the first team but has been out on loan recently.

“The rest of the players have plenty of Premier League experience.”

Palace have nine unavailable for the Bolton replay, with skipper Scott Dann not being risked having only just returned from a hamstring injury.

Midfielder James McArthur, who was substituted midway through the second half in the defeat by West Ham on Saturday, is also out, alongside Jordon Mutch, Fraizer Campbell, Connor Wickham, Papa Souare and Steve Mandanda.

Wilfried Zaha and Bakary Sako are away at the Africa Cup of Nations.

And Allardyce said his decision to rotate again for the FA Cup was to give them the best possible chance of beating Everton on Saturday.

He said: “I could select the strongest team against Bolton and win and then give a 15% lesser chance of winning against Everton, because the physical output would be not recoverable in time.

“If you want to give yourself the best chance against Everton, you have to change the team for tomorrow night.”




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