Pape Souare and Mamadou Sakho to start for Crystal Palace against Huddersfield

Welcome return: Pape Souare will make his first appearance for the senior side since his car crash last September
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Tom Dutton18 September 2017

Crystal Palace are set to start both Pape Souare and Mamadou Sakho when they host Huddersfield in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

Left-back Souare's return from a year out is particularly significant after he feared he may have to retire following a car crash that left him with a broken jaw, thigh and needing to be cut from his vehicle.

Sakho has not played since straining ankle ligaments - while on loan in April - but the central defender has since returned to the club on a permanent basis from Liverpool and recovered his fitness.

Boss Roy Hodgson said: "I'll have a chance on Tuesday to see a few more (players).

"Going forward, I'll have a much better idea of the playing personnel, and that's a very important factor.

"That was an important part at Fulham: looking at the playing personnel, working out who's going to be good enough on the field and who's going to be really ready to roll their sleeves up and die for us in this cause because we're not doing too well. That'll be the main thing.

"In terms of confidence you've got to be careful. You can't just go round to people all the time saying: 'You'll be okay, you'll be fine, that was all right, bad luck', because they need more than that.

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"What you have to have is: 'Look, what we're doing here, or what you're doing there, that's not what we want, that's not good enough, you've got to do this, that and the other'. And we've got to show them that in training, that's what I mean by working in training."