Crystal Palace's Roy Hodgson was handed a double dose of bad striking news ahead of their weekend's FA Cup clash with Grimsby.

Christian Benteke has returned to training following his knee injury but remains unfit to start whilst their pursuit of Dominic Solanke is over after the striker signed for Bournemouth.

Hodgson was pleased with the progress of Benteke but admitted the weekend's fixture has come to soon for the Belgian.

"Benteke trained, he's been back in training for a while," said Hodgson

"(Friday) was the first real occasion that he joined the squad and trained from start to finish. A couple of times, he's joined in with the early parts of training and dropped out when things became more physical but (on Friday) he joined in."

Solanke Blow

Despite Benteke's prior lack of goals, Palace have struggled in his absence this season, forcing them to explore striking options in the transfer market, of which Solanke was top of their wish list.

Solanke was scheduled to arrive on loan earlier this week before fitness concerns over the striker ended the deal. Eddie Howe's Bournemouth have since completed a permanent mover for Solanke believed to be around £19 million.

READ: 17-year career at Palace comes to an end for midfielder

Hodgson admitted that the break from league fixtures will give him a chance to give those in need of game time some minutes.

"You'll see a changed side but it's not just a case of bringing through younger players," Hodgson said.

"We can't keep top, international players forever on the sidelines because we've been lucky enough to have a very stable and consistent first XI.

"There are a lot of players who are more than good enough to play in the Crystal Palace first team but they haven't had a chance."

Puncheon to Huddersfield

Another player who looks set to leave is Jason Puncheon. Huddersfield are believed to be hours away from getting the deal over the line and Hodgson said he can't see 'any issues' scuppering the deal for the 32-year-old.