Palace have been boosted by the news that the injury sustained by Matt Lawrence during Saturday's win over Luton Town is not as bad as first feared, but the versatile defender could still be ruled out of the weekend trip to Burnley.

There were serious concerns over Lawrence's condition when he had to be stretchered from the pitch with what was initially feared to be a knee ligament injury, but after undergoing treatment and all of the relevant scans and tests it has proved to be nothing worse than bad bruising on his left knee.

It may be enough to keep the former Millwall man sidelined for the game at Turf Moor, but in the long term it comes as a boost to the Eagles ahead of the last two months of the season.

"It's certainly not as serious as we feared and he's had all the tests and the scan," revealed boss Peter Taylor.

"There is still a bit of bruising there, so he's doubtful for Saturday but he'll certainly be okay for the following week."

Otherwise, Palace still have a number of injury concerns ahead of the trip to Lancashire. Longer term victims to be ruled out include Stuart Green (shoulder) and Shefki Kuqi (knee), whilst wing pair Jobi McAnuff (hamstring) and Paul Ifill (achilles) are particularly doubtful at this stage. Mark Kennedy is also ruled out after being forced off in the early stages of Saturday's game with a hamstring complaint.

There is one likely addition to the squad though, as midfielder Ben Watson has rejoined training this week after previously missing most of February's games with a thigh strain.

"Ben has a chance of maybe being on the bench, but he couldn't play 90 minutes yet," explained Taylor.

"He's done all of the warm-ups with the squad and has trained very hard with Mark Hulse, so he will be joining in with full training this week."

There will be a full preview ahead of the journey north later in the week, as well as interviews with James Scowcroft and Tom Soares on Palace World, so be sure to check those out.