Roy Hodgson fears ligament damage for Christian Benteke

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has revealed that he is expecting to be without Christian Benteke until at least after the international break after the striker suffered suspected ligament damage.

The Belgium international had to be replaced in the 5-0 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday afternoon with a quarter of the game left to play after complaining of a knee injury.

Hodgson fears that Benteke is facing a spell on the sidelines while he recovers, ruling him out of next week's trip to Manchester United as a result, but the former England chief is remaining hopeful that it is only minor damage.

"He's not well - we think it's a form of ligament damage and I don't know quite how bad that ligament damage is," he told reporters. "He's going to have a scan on Sunday. It will mean he won't be playing in the next game, which we could do without at this moment in time."

Palace have two other recognised strikers in their ranks - Connor Wickham and Freddie Ladapo - while Bakary Sako can also fill in up top.