Jean-Philippe Mateta returns for Crystal Palace after horror injury with protective helmet | OneFootball

Jean-Philippe Mateta returned to action following his horror injury for Crystal Palace’s FA Cup quarter-final against Fulham and he was wearing a protective headguard.

Four weeks ago, in the FA Cup fifth-round win over Millwall, Palace striker Mateta was hospitalised with a lacerated ear, and required 25 stitches, after a disgraceful challenge by Lions goalkeeper Liam Roberts that saw the Frenchman kicked in the head.

Roberts was sent off, and subsequently received a six-game ban, while Mateta has been sidelined ever since the incident, until Saturday’s last-eight clash at Craven Cottage.

The 27-year-old returned to Oliver Glasner’s starting line-up but was sporting a new bit of headgear to protect himself – in the form of a half-helmet that covers his injured ear.

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Jean-Philippe Mateta sports a new headguard to protect his injured ear (Action Images via Reuters)

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Mateta was injured by a horror tackle from Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts in the FA Cup fifth round. (REUTERS)

Mateta had been trialling the helmet in training and Eagles boss Glasner is confident his striker feels at home in the headgear and won’t be psychologically affected by the injury.

“He feels comfortable,” Glasner said of the helmet during his pre-match press conference on Friday. “When he scores a header tomorrow then it was the right mask with the right protection.

“When I’ve watched JP in training he looks the same like before. He needs to get back into his rhythm; he couldn’t train for two weeks. One week he was just at home then he trained for a week individually.

“He’s been lucky that nothing was fractured, no concussion. It was just the ear. I know it was a terrible injury. Some players say that the ear looks better than before now!

“The doctor and the team did a great job finding the right protection. We tried two or three different ones – everything is approved by the Premier League. If I believed it’s a problem, I wouldn’t play him.”

Palace and Fulham are competing for a place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, which has suddenly become wide open with the elimination of most of the traditional ‘big six’ in English football.

The Londoners are two of the four remaining teams (along with Brighton and Bournemouth) that have never won a major trophy in their history while Manchester City are the only quarter-finalists who have lifted substantial silverware in the past 25 years.