Dann blames punishing schedule for injury

Defender Scott Dann has blamed a lack of time for rest and recovery for the hamstring injury that has kept him out of the Crystal Palace squad for the past month.

The Palace captain went off during the club’s EFL Cup game against Southampton back in September and had hoped to make a return against West Ham or Premier League champions Leicester.

The Eagles had been unbeaten in five in the league before defeats in both those games but Dann expects to be fit for the trip to Anfield on Saturday.

“I haven’t had a hamstring injury before – I don’t think I’m quick enough,” he said.

“I think it was more an accumulation of training and games continuously, and it just caught up with me.

(Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

“I was unlucky but I had to get on with it, I’ve worked hard to get myself back now and it’s about getting a full week under my belt ahead of Liverpool and hopefully I’ll be ready for Saturday.

“I tried to push it for the West Ham game to see if we could get close, and it healed well but there just wasn’t enough time.

“I started full training at the back end of last week and the game at Leicester was probably too soon to be involved.”