Crystal Palace news: Opinion - Injury issues mean relegation battle escape 'will take longer than desired'

Another weekend, another point for Oliver Glasner and Crystal Palace.

Escape from the current relegation battle will take longer than desired, as the team had entered the match with an expanding list of injury concerns.

Ironically, despite all the comments surrounding squad depth, few fans had concerns about the defensive midfield position. With four players capable of starting, and new arrival Daichi Kamada able to act as an emergency option, the heart of the formation appeared to be well set.

The reality has been far less rosy, as the club have struggled to have more than three of the principal options available at once.

If anything, Adam Wharton's valiant efforts in battling a nagging injury for most of the season, which ultimately resulted in surgery, deserves only higher praise. There was the sense the burden was placed on him if only to allow Cheick Doucoure to overcome a freak toe injury suffered against Leicester in mid-September.

Wharton is not alone on the sidelines, either.

Jefferson Lerma is not expected to return until after the international break, in a best-case scenario. Meanwhile, a fifth yellow for Will Hughes seconds before being substituted leaves Glasner without another player for Fulham .

The intensity and pressing that was reinvigorated against Tottenham was maintained against Wolves . If not for wayward finishing, perhaps the game would have ended differently - though the absence of options in the midfield engine room was also a contributing factor.

Coupled with Glasner's hesitancy to turn to the academy players sitting on the bench, Palace will enter the Fulham match with Doucoure and Kamada as their only options without disrupting the settled backline.

Does that mean we need to grade these results against healthy oppositions on a curve? Perhaps. Yet, asterisks and caveats are not entirely useful for a team in desperate need of points.