Crystal Palace new boy Luka Milivojevic in contention to start against Stoke
Fellow January signings Mamadou Sakho, Patrick van Aanholt and Jeffrey Schlupp are also in contention to start
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Your support makes all the difference.Crystal Palace’s deadline day signing Luka Milivojevic could be in line to make his first appearance for Sam Allardyce’s side against Stoke City on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Serbian midfielder completed a £13million move to Selhurst Park just hours before the January transfer window closed, but was unable to feature in last weekend's 4-0 home defeat to Sunderland due to visa issues.
Milivojevic has now been awarded a visa and is available for selection, though due to the complications, he spent much of the week away from Palace's Beckenham training ground.
“Luka's not trained much here,“ Allardyce said, admitting that a lack of match sharpness may prevent the Serbian international from starting at the bet365 Stadium. ”He got back here Wednesday, but he'd been following the programme back at home.“
“Some new players will play,“ the former England manager added, with loanee Mamadou Sakho, as well as January additions Patrick van Aanholt and Jeffrey Schlupp vying for starting roles.
“Certainly all are in the squad. Three new boys have played in the PL, only Luka hasn't - so there's a decision to take on whether to throw him in. We'll see if we risk throwing him in”.
After their embarrassing 4-0 home defeat to relegation rivals Sunderland last weekend, Allardyce will be grateful to have finally received some positive news.
His Palace side are currently sat in 19th and very much a part of this season’s relegation dog-fight, but the 62-year-old coach remains confident he can turn the club's fortunes around.
“If you do your research I had an upturn in fortunes everywhere,” he said. “I did at Bolton, West Ham, Blackburn. Everywhere we have done it it has increased the players' capacity to cope with the pressures of the Premier League.
“It has given them a new spirit in terms of how they feel when they come back. The research and science behind it has always been documented by me.”
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