Alex Howell, BBC SportRoy Hodgson will be hoping that his squad depth has improved after the international break.Going into the game against Nottingham Forest, Palace had seven first team players injured which limited the number of changes Hodgson could make.The Palace boss had spoken about how some of the opposition teams the Eagles had come up against had better options from the bench than he did and before the League Cup game against Manchester United he said he couldn’t attack the match as he would like as “I don’t have any players”.Summer singing Matheus Franca has been pictured in partial training and looks to be nearing a return. The summer signing from Flamengo has yet to make his debut for the club after a hamstring injury was picked up on his arrival.Eberechi Eze has been ruled out with a hamstring injury and Franca being available would at least give Hodgson some attacking firepower, even if it is untested in the Premier League.The Eagles go into the match against Newcastle on a three game unbeaten run in the league but with the Magpies on their own unbeaten run of seven games, Hodgson will need all the options he can to get a positive result at St James’ Park.Hit ‘Follow’ at the top of this page and if you are using the BBC Sport app, tap the bell icon to get Crystal Palace news, analysis and more sent straight to you
