---
title: "Crystal Palace: Journalist relays James McArthur update"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/crystal-palace-journalist-relays-james-mcarthur-update/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Charlie Smith"
section: "Crystal Palace News"
published: "2022-03-12T13:05:30Z"
modified: "2022-03-12T13:05:30Z"
---

# Crystal Palace: Journalist relays James McArthur update

**Crystal Palace will be without midfielder James McArthur against Manchester City, [football.london’s Mark Wyatt](https://www.football.london/crystal-palace-fc/news/crystal-palace-injury-news-city-23352762) reports.**

### The Lowdown: Injury problems

McArthur, labelled as [‘undroppable’](https://thisisfutbol.com/2021/10/blogs/premier-league/crystal-palace/crystal-palace-dan-cook-heaps-praise-on-james-mcarthur/) by Dan Cook, missed [11](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/james-mcarthur/leistungsdaten/spieler/41416) Premier League games earlier in the season but made a return last month against Brentford.

\[freshpress-poll id=”379769″\]

He appeared to be over his injury problems after featuring in [four](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/james-mcarthur/leistungsdaten/spieler/41416) successive league games but was missing against Wolves last weekend.

The central midfielder, who is out of [contract](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/james-mcarthur/profil/spieler/41416) in the summer, has joined [Joel Ward](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/joel-ward/leistungsdaten/spieler/92572) and [Nathan Ferguson](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/nathan-ferguson/leistungsdaten/spieler/507254) on the injury table, and a return on Monday evening isn’t on the cards for the Scot.

### The Latest: Wyatt’s report

Wyatt shared a story for [football.london](https://www.football.london/crystal-palace-fc/news/crystal-palace-injury-news-city-23352762) on Thursday evening following Patrick Vieira’s press conference earlier in the day.

He claimed that McArthur, who played a key role in the win at the Etihad back in October, won’t be available at Selhurst Park.

\[freshpress-quiz id=”389047″\]

### The Verdict: Not ideal

Palace have lost just [one](https://www.skysports.com/crystal-palace-results) of their last [eight](https://www.skysports.com/crystal-palace-results) games in all competitions, [half](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/james-mcarthur/leistungsdaten/spieler/41416) of which have been without McArthur, but not having him available isn’t ideal for Vieira.

He [captained](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/james-mcarthur/leistungsdaten/spieler/41416) the side on numerous occasions earlier in the season, so his leadership qualities could have come in handy, even it was just being part of the match-day squad.

However, Vieira will now have to rely on his other midfield options against Pep Guardiola’s side, as he looks to do the double over the defending champions.

***In other news: [Palace and John Textor now hit with off-field blow as news emerges.](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/crystal-palace-news/crystal-palace-boubacar-kamara-not-interested-in-move/)***