Sign up to FREE email alerts from croydonadvertiser - Daily Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

It's the news all Crystal Palace fans have been waiting for - Ruben Loftus-Cheek is back!

The on loan Chelsea midfielder has been out of action since the end of December after picking up an ankle injury in the defeat to Arsenal.

There were fears over how long he would be out of action for, with Palace in the dark over his injury as recently as last month after he returned to parent club Chelsea for analysis and rehabilitation.

The 22-year-old suffered a setback at the beginning of this month, but manager Roy Hodgson admitted last week that he was expecting to see Loftus-Cheek back at the club this week .

And that has come to fruiton, with the midfielder back on the training pitch with his Palace team-mates today and now raring to return to action.

And Loftus-Cheek could even be back on the pitch as early as this weekend's huge game away at Huddersfield Town.

Speaking to eagles.cpfc.co.uk, Loftus-Cheek said: "I'm not sure [how far off I am]. I'm training fully now, the quicker I can get fit, the quicker I can play. If the manager wants to throw me in games early on, that's even better.

"I feel really good, I'm really happy to get back in the swing of things, get fit again and get training and playing as quick as I can.

"The amount of injuries the team has had we need as many back as possible. Hopefully we can all be ready and ready to play against Huddersfield."

Yohan Cabaye and Mamadou Sakho - who was on the bench on Saturday - were also pictured in training today.