DOUGIE Freedman admits he will be keeping his fingers crossed no injuries are picked up by any Crystal Palace players away on international duty this week.
Steffen Iversen, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Sean Scannell, Wilfried Zaha, John Williams and Lewis Price will all be involved for their countries at some level and the Eagles supremo is keeping tabs on how they are getting on.
Freedman said: “I always do fear injuries because it is up a level.
“The quality and speed of the international game is a lot quicker and you can come back with injuries.
“I’ve just got to keep my fingers crossed that everyone comes back OK.”
Although Freedman will be unable to relax, the two-week break has afforded him the luxury of giving the remaining players some time off at a critical stage of the season.
He explained: “It is crucial that with six weeks to go I give the lads four days off for complete rest.
“We are shutting the club down for those four days and then hopefully we will get them mentally tuned in for the next six weeks.
“These next six weeks will be a big six weeks in terms of where we’re going to be playing our football next year.”
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