Crystal Palace will be without their best player, Wilfried Zaha, for up to a month after the Ivorian international picked up an injury in the opening-day defeat to Huddersfield Town.

The winger left Selhurst Park on Saturday with his right leg in a brace and the club had hoped that there would be no serious layoff.

But while tests by the club's doctor and medical staff have shown no ligament damage, Zaha is expected to miss around four weeks.

That means the livewire forward is definitely out of this weekend's trip to Anfield and the Eagles' following Premier League fixture at home to Swansea City.

Zaha will also miss the Carabao Cup tie against Ipswich Town though he was always a candidate to sit that one out.

The 24-year-old was rewarded for his leading role in Palace's survival last season with a new, long-term contract in May. It made Zaha the highest earner in the club's history and he has been mentioned as a future captain of the club he joined aged 12.

Zaha is often the subject of special attention from opposing teams and, after being kicked repeatedly in a pre-season friendly against West Bromwich Albion, manager Frank de Boer called for referees to to protect him better.

Zaha is accustomed to rough treatment (Getty)

"If you want to sell the Premier League here and the beauty of the game, the beauty of the game is not those kind of challenges," said De Boer.

"Of course, when it's a fair challenge then for me it's not a problem, but for example for Wilf Zaha they were really looking for him, to injure him, and we can't accept that. No manager can accept that.