Midfielder Hendrick to be assessed ahead of Palace

Hendrick missed the 1-1 draw with Spurs at Wembley a fortnight ago with a tight thigh.

And while he linked up with the Republic of Ireland for their World Cup qualifiers, missed both the 1-1 draw with Georgia in Tblisi and the 1-0 defeat against group leaders Serbia in Dublin on Tuesday night.

Dyche said yesterday morning: “We’ll wait to check on Jeff, it’s one we have to be sensible with, as with all muscle injuries.

“We’ll see how he is on Friday, but particularly early season, we have to make sure he’s right.”

Hendrick’s club and international teammate Jon Walters also missed the draw with Spurs with an ankle problem suffered in the Carabao Cup win at League 1 neighbours Blackburn Rovers.

But, despite it emerging that the former Stoke City man tore a ligament in his ankle, he was able to captain Ireland as he passed the 50-cap mark, and completed 90 minutes in both games.

Dyche explained: “With Jon, we were lucky in the end, actually.

“He tore a small ligament in his ankle, but its one you don’t rely on, and it settled down quickly.

“It was sore – when you roll your ankle, you usually do it a few times in your career and it’s a weird sensation, but when it happened, Ally (Beattie, physio) said he’d seen it before and it would settle down, and it has.”

Meanwhile, deadline day signing, striker Nahki Wells, will not be available to face Palace as he recovers from a minor operation to remove a pin from his ankle following an injury 10 years ago.

Dyche is reluctant to put a time on his recovery but said: “It’s a common sense approach with Nahki, we did our due diligence and spoke to the surgeon, who was very happy with how the operation went.

“He’s going well, he’s on the grass at the moment, but we’ll be sensible with him.

“It’s a good sign of having a deeper squad that we’re not forced to throw him in, and can allow him to get properly fit.”