Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner could be able to hand defender Trevoh Chalobah his debut when the Eagles make the trip to Merseyside to face Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Chelsea loanee is yet to feature since his deadline day move across London due to an abdominal injury, and has not kicked a ball in any capacity since the final day of last season.
However, a social media post from Chalobah on Wednesday, captioned "Ready", has suggested he could be in the squad for their trip to Goodison Park.
Another recent recruit Maxence Lacroix has already established himself as regular, playing in all three matches since arriving from Wolfsburg, so it could be Chris Richards who finds his place under threat by Chalobah's return to fitness.
Chalobah's availability will be music to the ears of Glasner, who lost Chadi Riad to a long-term knee injury just days after allowing Joachim Andersen leave for Fulham in August.
Riad is joined on the sidelines by fellow youngster Matheus Franca, and midfielder Cheick Doucoure, who has suffered another setback after missing most of last season with Achilles injury and is not set to return until after the October international break.
Glasner chose about as strong a team as possible for their 0-0 draw with Manchester United last week, with the only position up for grabs being in centre midfield, but Daichi Kamada has done enough to keep his place ahead of Jefferson Lerma and Will Hughes.
The Palace boss has opted to use both Eddie Nketiah and Jean-Philippe Mateta up front together since the former arrived from Arsenal over the summer, with Eberechi Eze pulling the strings just in behind.
Everything is set to go through Eze in that number 10 position, but the England international had made a rather slow start to the season, with just one goal to his name so far in the league, and no assists, and he squandered two excellent chances against Man United last week.
Two goals and two assists in Palace's two EFL Cup wins shows what he is capable of though, and it would be no surprise if he adds to his tally here, considering he has hit double figures for league goals in the last two seasons.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Henderson; Lacroix, Guehi, Chalobah; Munoz, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell; Nketiah, Mateta, Eze
Click here to see how Everton could line up for this fixture.
Andrew Delaney
