Liverpool star’s tackle on me was ‘disgusting’ moans Palace star

Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic has been blasted for the “disgusting” tackle which kept Crystal Palace defender James Tomkins out of action for around three weeks.

Tomkins returned to action this weekend as Palace secured their Premier League status with a 4-0 thumping of Hull at Selhurst Park.

But the defender had at one stage feared his season may have been ended early after he was forced to miss three matches after being subject to a late challenge from Grujic.

The Serbian midfielder received only a yellow card for the challenge during Palace’s 2-1 win over the Reds at Anfield last month and Tomkins believes the tackle has been “brushed under the carpet” a little.

“The challenge was brushed under the carpet a bit,” he told ESPN FC. “I’m not one to complain about the physical aspects of the game and I accept opposing players are going to be competitive but I thought the tackle was disgusting really.

“I managed to get away with it because it could have been a lot worse. I worked very hard to get myself back to fitness and just wasn’t quite ready for City last week but I was very happy to come in against Hull even though there’s still a bit of pain.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries, obviously Mama [Sakho] has been great for us and Scott [Dann] has been recovering from a long-term injury.

“We’ve had Martin Kelly playing centre-back even though he’s normally a right full-back so he deserves a lot of credit for stepping in and playing so well.

“Last week against City was a difficult game for the entire team but we all deserve a lot of credit for the performance we put in against Hull.”