Freedman sweats on squad’s health ahead of semi-final

Freedman – who will come up against his fellow Scot Malky Mackay in the opposition dug-out – has seen his squad ravaged by the virus which has affected Julian Speroni, Paddy McCarthy, Anthony Gardner, Nathaniel Clyne, Mile Jedinak and Sean Scannell.

Former Dundee goalkeeper Speroni is expected to be fit but the remainder of the group trained away from the rest of the main squad yesterday.

Former Scotland international forward Freedman will give them as long as he can to prove their fitness but will not consider them unless they are 100 per cent. “Hopefully, it’s not going to get any worse,” he said.

Freedman is concerned the virus could leave him short of experienced players and that could result in his side losing the first leg when they have home advantage.

He said: “Things can always be worse and that’s the challenge, we could be losing heading into the second leg with these problems. The players have been coming in throughout the day and have trained in different units.”

Freedman has decided to leave it as late as he can before he names his team. He added: “I will not know my team until 5pm tomorrow. At the moment I am just dreading a phone call in the morning from the doctor.”

If it is bad news Freedman will turn to the younger players in his squad but is not concerned about drafting them in. He said: “I will take no risks with any player who is not 100 per cent fit. I have no worries with playing young players and never have done.

“What worries me more is putting out players who aren’t fully fit.”

Cardiff manager Mackay, meanwhile, is delighted that the npower Championship will be represented in next month’s Carling Cup final – against Liverpool or Manchester City. He knows, however, that his side face an extremely tough task to get past Palace.

He admitted that he was glad to avoid Premier League opposition in the last four. “One championship club will be playing at Wembley next month and that’s a great thing for the division,” said Mackay. “Both clubs respect each other and know how hard the games will be but, admittedly, we were probably both delighted not to draw Manchester City and Liverpool.”

Mackay made ten changes for the FA Cup defeat to West Brom at the weekend, but does not feel that loss has affected confidence in his squad.

“The mood in the camp is very good,” he added. “We had a tough game in the FA Cup against West Brom on the weekend and those involved in that game did a light session on Sunday.

“The two-legged nature of the semi-finals does make a difference. There won’t be that one-off cup-tie feel to the game at Selhurst Park, although there will be more when we play the second leg here in a couple of weeks’ time. But there’ll be no different approach to the game on Tuesday.”

Mackay received some welcome news on the injury front ahead of the game with former Aberdeen defender Kevin McNaughton and striker Rudy Gestede set to play. McNaughton picked up a calf injury on Boxing Day but has trained for the last three days and is fit to return, while Gestede is expected to recover from an ankle problem after being given as long as possible to prove his fitness.