Crystal Palace injury news: Roy Hodgson confirms Christian Benteke suffers 'ligament damage'

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has confirmed that Christian Benteke has suffered "ligament damage" in his side's 5-0 defeat to Manchester City and has also ruled out the striker for the next league tie against Manchester United.

The former Liverpool man was withdrawn in the 72<sup>nd minute after complaining of a knee injury. Bakary Sako replaced the Belgium international for the final quarter of the match as the Eagles suffered a crushing defeat at the Etihad on 23 September.

Hodgson, who replaced Frank de Boer as Palace manager in September, claims he is unaware of the extent of the damage, but confirmed that Benteke will miss his side's trip to Old Trafford to face Jose Mourinho's side.

"[He's] Not well. We think it's a form of ligament damage, but I don't know how bad that ligament damage is," Hodgson said, as quoted by Palace's official website.

"He's going to have a scan tomorrow, but it will mean he won't be playing in the next game [against Manchester United], I'm pretty sure of that, which we could do without at this moment in time!"

Benteke moved to Selhurst Park from Liverpool and the striker was last season's top scorer for Palace, with 17 goals in all competitions. His absence will be a massive blow for the London outfit.

With Benteke expected to be on the sidelines, Hodgson has the services of Connor Wickham and Freddie Ladapo as the other recognised strikers in the squad. The former suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his right knee in November 2016 and is still recovering on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Palace are yet to register a win in the league this term and are the only club in the Premier League, who have failed to score in their first six matches. Hodgson's side take on United and Chelsea in the next two fixtures and the former England manager fears the Eagles could find it hard to bounce back against these two clubs.

"We've got to accept that we've been given a headache and now during the course of the week we've got to try to find the aspirins which will ease the headache and keep working on the things that we are trying to work on because unfortunately there's a risk that Man United and Chelsea will also be as capable as Man City have been. They will punish us if we don't get things right," he said.