Alan Pardew has played down injury fears over Yohan Cabaye after the Crystal Palace midfielder limped off in the 1-1 draw away to Swansea City on Saturday.
Cabaye suffered an ankle problem as Palace beat Stoke City 1-0 in the fourth round of the FA Cup last weekend and was withdrawn at half-time at Selhurst Park.
The France international was a welcome inclusion for the match at the Liberty Stadium, and, although the former Newcastle United and Paris Saint-Germain man had to be taken off with 18 minutes to go, Pardew claimed the substitution was down to a lack of conditioning rather than a recurrence of the injury.
"He's fine," the Palace manager said.
"He was struggling a little bit with his fitness because he hasn't worked [ahead of the game]. He's had a sore ankle as we know and was touch and go for this game but he was terrific."
Emmanuel Adebayor made his first start for Palace and was involved in several early chances before coming off during a quieter second half, but the former Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham striker still did enough to earn his manager's praise.
"He had a couple of moments that were top-drawer really, he was good. You can see that he's going to add something to us," said Pardew.
"But we need more players back. Next week I get Connor Wickham and I should get [Dwight] Gayle back. We still look a bit like we need a bit more going forward at this level."
The draw leaves Palace 12th in the Premier League, nine points above the relegation zone ahead of a home match against Watford, who are one point and two places better off in 10th.
"The point is so important," Pardew said.
"We knew we had to get something, so that was a very good result. It was really tough, a lot of energy, a lot of commitment from both teams.
"We were playing with our brakes on but we had a reaction to the chat at half-time. Swansea have been in good form and we came back, which makes it all the sweeter.
"There's a bit of relief on our side and we take that into the Watford game."
